Colloid and Interface Science Communications最新文献

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is an innovative and minimally invasive approach to cancer treatment, which uses photothermal agents to absorb light energy and convert it to heat, causing irreversible cellular damage and tumor cell death. Although current photothermal agents like indocyanine green (ICG), gold nanoparticles, and carbon-based materials have been used, they present challenges in terms of photostability, rapid elimination, and potential toxicity.

Hemoglobin, a protein found in red blood cells with light absorption and heat conversion properties, has emerged as a potential alternative. In particular, the high concentration of hemoglobin in fixed blood clots, unlike the hemoglobin in fluid blood, can induce an effective photothermal effect. NaOH can be injected into tumors to induce necrosis and promote blood coagulation via strong alkalinization. However, NaOH, being a highly alkaline substance, is rapidly absorbed when administered systemically and can increase systemic pH, leading to toxicity.

To address this, a needle-type sodium hydroxide (NaOH)-loaded starch (NST) implants was developed for the targeted delivery of NaOH directly to the tumor site. The NST implant, prepared by loading NaOH into a starch implant and drying, promotes localized tissue necrosis and subsequent blood clotting at the injection site, while ensuring controlled release of NaOH to reduce toxicity. In contrast to NaOH solution, the NST implant did not exhibit systemic toxicity upon administration and effectively induced thrombosis at the injection site.

Upon laser irradiation of the induced blood clot, the NST implant demonstrated a significant photothermal effect, exceeding 60 °C, and exhibited potent anticancer properties. Consequently, this novel method leverages the photothermal properties of endogenous hemoglobin within induced blood clots for effective tumor treatment. The NST implant approach shows potential as a biodegradable, efficient, and safe PTT method, offering a promising alternative to traditional photothermal agents.

Oily wastewater can have a great impact on human health and the surrounding environment. The current methods for treating oily wastewater mainly included physical methods, chemical methods, membrane separation technology and other mechanical methods. Compared with other methods, membrane separation technology had the advantages of high separation efficiency, low cost, simple operation, energy saving and environmental protection in separating general oil-water emulsions, thus having a wide application prospect. In order to understand the application of membrane materials in oil-water separation, such as improving the structure, mechanical strength and structural stability of membrane materials in aqueous solutions, this paper discussed the separation mechanism of oily wastewater by different membrane materials (inorganic membranes, organic membranes and emerging membrane). The latest research progress of various types of membranes and the strategies and performance of membrane modification were introduced and analyzed. In the end, the future development direction of membrane separation technology was summarized. The future research will be focused on reducing the cost of membrane preparation, reducing the pollution to the environment, using natural membrane materials, developing molecular-level methods for membrane anticontamination, exploring more stable surface modification methods, and quantitatively analyzing the influence of surface structure on membrane surface-water-pollutant interactions at molecular level.

In this study we have produced silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Serbian traditional tea Bosiljak (Ocimum basilicum L.) extract in a single step without the involvement of toxic chemicals. The method employed is environmentally friendly, simple, and cost-effective, involving the use of an aqueous plant extract that serves as both a reducing and stabilizing agent for AgNPs. The AgNPs were studied using UV–Vis spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light spectroscopy (DLS) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The AgNPs exhibited surface plasmon resonance (SPR) at a wavelength of 344 nm as seen in UV–Vis Spectroscopy. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) result verified that the plant extract functions both as a capping agent and a reducing agent for the AgNPs. The results of FESEM and TEM revealed that the synthesized NPs exhibit an oval shape and possess an average diameter of 55 and 35 nm, respectively. The synthesized AgNPs have cytotoxic effect against the human cervical immortalized (HeLa) cancer cells. The cell viability was observed to decrease in dose dependent manner and the inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) was 21.78 ± 0.68 μg/ml. Moreover, the anticancer potential of AgNPs was explored by observing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and gene expression of apoptotic genes via qRT-PCR technique. Ultimately, this study's findings indicate that the AgNPs derived from the extract of Serbian traditional tea Bosiljak have the potential to be considered for more detailed studies in for the treatment of not only cervical cancer in humans but also as a candidate for atherosclerosis and bacterial infection treatment

With the ongoing advancement of processing technology, one of the hottest subjects is the manufacturing of materials with distinctive surface micro/nanostructures. Among these, femtosecond laser processing has been widely adopted as a high-precision and high-efficiency fabricating technology. When compared to other traditional processing methods, femtosecond laser processing has some advantages in controllable micro/nanostructures processing and can fabricate a wide range of structures, including periodic structures, microporous array structure, three-dimensional structure, composite structures, and so on. They have many applications, including optical anti-counterfeiting, anti-reflection, superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic properties, and so on. This article reviews the simplified mechanism of femtosecond laser processing material, typical surface micro/nanostructures fabricated by femtosecond laser, and typical applications of femtosecond laser-fabricated surface micro/nanostructures. It proves the technical prospect and application potential of femtosecond laser fabrication of surface micro/nanostructures.

Promoting wound repair by external electric field is a proved effective adjuvant but with single effect and needs additional devices. We designed a MXene (Ti₃C₂T_x)-dominated electroactive nanoplatform (named as PM) which could respond to the natural physiological electric signals in the wound site and convert them into microcurrents of multi-intensity. MXene optimized the electrical properties of nanoplatform with charged surface, superior electrical conductivity and permittivity. In vitro studies have demonstrated that PM promotes the activity of functional cells associated with wound repair. In vivo results displayed its promotion equivalent to the applied electric field on both skin and oral mucosal wounds repair by accelerating collagen formation, vascularization and re-epithelization. It was the first time for biomaterials to response to and regulate bio-electric stimulation without external power source, making use of electric signals from the wound itself. This microenvironment-responsive PM with multifunctionality is a promising curative design for maxillofacial soft tissues defects repair.

Biosensors based on electrospun nanofibers have found extensive applications in the field of biomarker detection. Nanofibers, owing to their advantages such as porosity, high surface area, and significant loading capacity, play a crucial role in immobilizing recognition elements, directly interacting with target analytes, enhancing antibody fixation positions, and improving the activity and lifespan of biomolecules. This, in turn, enables the high sensitivity and selectivity detection of major disease biomarkers. This review begins by summarizing the structure and processing methods of electrospun nanofiber biosensors, followed by an overview of the physical, chemical detection, and immobilization patterns in biomarker detection. Subsequently, a brief retrospective analysis of the research progress in biomarker detection is presented. Additionally, the application of electrospun nanofiber biosensors in various disease areas, including cancer, cardiovascular, neurological, metabolic, and infectious diseases, is discussed based on biomedical classifications. Finally, the challenges faced by electrospun nanofiber biosensors in biomarker detection are summarized, and the future directions for the development of electrospun nanofiber biosensors are highlighted

The evolution of dynamic processes in graphene-family materials are of great interest for both scientific purposes and technical applications. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy outstand among the techniques that allow both observing and controlling such dynamic processes in real time. On the other hand, functionalized graphene oxide emerges as a favorable candidate from graphene-family materials for such an investigation due to its distinctive properties, that encompass a large surface area, robust thermal stability, and noteworthy electrical and mechanical properties after its reduction. Here, we report on studies of surface structure and adsorption dynamics of L-Cysteine on electrochemically exfoliated graphene oxide's basal plane. We show that electron beam irradiation prompts an amorphization of functionalized graphene oxide along with the formation of micropatterns of controlled geometry composed of L-Cysteine-Graphene oxide nanostructures. The controlled growth and predetermined arrangement of micropatterns as well as controlled structure disorder induced by e beam amorphization, in its turn potentially offering tailored properties and functionalities paving the way for potential applications in nanotechnology, sensor development, and surface engineering. Our findings demonstrate that graphene oxide can cover L-Cysteine in such a way to provide a control on the positioning of emerging microstructures about 10–20 μm in diameter. Besides, Raman and SAED measurement analyses yield above 50% amorphization in a material. The results of our studies demonstrate that such a technique enables the direct creation of micropatterns of L-Cysteine-Graphene oxide eliminating the need for complicated mask patterning procedures.

The ultrathin and porous graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) nanosheets with structural design and abundant nitrogen dopants were synthesized via a one-step calcination procedure. The exfoliated and doped g-C₃N₄ (NT-CN) displayed enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of hydrochloride tetracycline and rhodamine B degradation in the complex water matrixes with different pH values or even in the presence of various anions (Cl⁻, CO2–3, NO- 3, and SO2–4). N-doped porous structure provided an extremely high surface area and enhanced basicity, enabling NT-CN catalyst to adsorb the abundant active species and pollutants. Moreover, NT-CN exhibited a wide band gap with a strong negative CB minimum of −1.07 eV that facilitated the formation of more photoexcited electrons. During the reaction process, the generated electrons reacted with dissolved O₂ to produce the ·O₂⁻ species, and then transformed into highly reactive and stable ¹O₂ species, which play a predominant role in eliminating pollutants.

We propose a novel technique to determine the absolute fast aggregation rate directly from the growth curve of the aggregate size. Our approach is convenient and effective as it eliminates the need for calculations of optical properties and does not require a precise zero point of aggregation time, which are both essential in traditional light-scattering methods. Through comparisons with conventional turbidity measurements, the reliability and precision of this new approach are verified for both homogeneous and heterogeneous aggregation.

Rare earth-doped bioactive ceramics are promising biomaterials due to their unique optical properties, biocompatibility, antioxidants, and antibacterial activity. In this study, a series of SiO₂-CaO-Er₂O₃ nanofiber mats were fabricated by sol-gel electrospinning. The morphology, flexibility, physicochemical and biological properties of the nanofibers were investigated. The flexibility of the nanofiber mats containing 5 and 10 wt% of Er₂O₃ was better than that of samples without or with >10 wt% Er₂O₃. The chemical property assay indicated that addition of Er can lead to changes in the degree of crystallinity and the degree of silica network polymerization, which further affect the flexibility. Photoluminescent spectra showed that the Er-doped nanofibers exist green and near infrared emissions. The in vitro bio experiments demonstrated that Er-doped nanofibers present excellent biocompatibility, and the mineralization experiment demonstrated that Er-doped nanofibers present favorable mineralization activity. Therefore, these SiO₂-CaO-Er₂O₃ flexible nanofibers may be promising candidates for biomedical applications.