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Achieving high drug loading capacity and controlling drug delivery are two main challenges related to drug carriers. In this study, polymeric macroporous sponges with very high pore volume and large porosity are introduced as a new-type of drug carrier. Due to the high pore volume (285 and 166 cm³/g for the sponges with densities of 3.5 and 6.0 mg/cm³, respectively), the sponges exhibit very high drug loading capacities with average values of 1870 ± 114 and 2697 ± 73 mg/g in the present study, which is much higher than the meso and microporous drug carriers (<1500 mg/g). In order to control the release profiles, an additional poly(p-xylylene) (PPX) coating was deposited by chemical vapor deposition on the drug loaded sponge. Consequently, Artemisone (ART) release in the aqueous medium could be retarded, depending on the density of the sponge and the thickness of the coating. In future, the new 3D polymeric sponges would be highly beneficial as drug carriers for the programmed release of drugs for treatment of chronic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While low-dimensional (1D and 2D) polycatechol materials have been widely described for a range of biomedical and surface engineering applications, very few examples have been explored that focus on the construction of functional polycatechol nanoparticles. Herein, we report the facile fabrication of a series of polycatechol nanoparticles via a general and robust strategy based on the one-step oxidation reaction. IO 3 - -induced catechol redox chemistry could facilitate the precise size control of the resulting nanoparticles and also allow the successful transfer and amplification of microscopic monomer function into macroscopic polycatechol material properties. The ease, facileness, and controllability of such a one-step fabrication process could highly promote the development of polycatechol nanomaterials for various applications.

Nowadays, large-scale oriented functional porous materials have been sought after by researchers. However, regulation of the long-range uniform and oriented structures of the material remains a challenge. Herein, ultralong anisotropic cellulose nanofibril (CNF) aerogels with uniformly ordered structures of pore walls inspired by lotus petioles were constructed by applying external speeds to counterbalance the growth driving forces of ice crystals. Based on the growth law of ice crystals, the ice crystals grew at a stable rate when the applied external speed was 0.04 mm/s, ensuring the consistent orientation of the large-scale CNF aerogel. The aerogel exhibited a rapid long-range directional transport ability to different liquid solvents, delivering ethanol up to 40 mm from bottom to top within 50 s. Moreover, by introducing rectorites with good cation-exchange properties, the resulting long-range composite possessed an enhanced adsorption capacity for methylene blue. Furthermore, aerogel successfully achieved real-time dye purification at a long distance, such as fast dye adsorption or selective adsorption. This flexible and straightforward strategy of fabricating ultralong oriented CNF aerogel materials is expected to promote the development of functional aerogels in directional liquid transport and sewage treatment.

o -Phenylenediamine (OPD) can be readily oxidized by several types of oxidants to generate fluorescent 2,3-diaminophenazine (oxidized OPD, OPDox). The unique fluorescence response process during the oxidation of OPD provides an important model for the design of novel sensors. In recent years, a series of fluorescent and colorimetric sensors have been developed based on the oxidation of OPD. In this review, fluorescent and colorimetric sensors for the detection of metal ions and small organic molecules are discussed. These sensing processes exhibit distinguishable and prominent fluorescent and colorimetric responses. The sensing systems include autocatalytic reactions and using nanomaterials, carbon dots, or fluorophore labeled DNA as reference fluorophore for fluorescent and colorimetric detection., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.)

A combination of appropriate reinforcing material and morphology led to the highly tough, flexible, and strong polystyrene fibers by electrospinning. Concentric fiber morphology with reinforcing elastomeric thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) sandwiched between the two layers of polystyrene made by a special nozzle (triaxial) showed toughness of >270 J g(-1) and 300% elongation without any cracks in comparison to toughness of <0.5 J g(-1) and elongation at break of <5% of polystyrene single fibers. The concentric triaxial morphology showed great advantage in comparison to the coaxial structure. Toughness and elongation at break were 1376 and 628% higher, respectively, for triaxial morphology in comparison to the coaxial fibers because of the better interface from the sandwich structure.

We highlight a novel composite fabrication method based on solution casting, electrospinning, and film stacking for preparing highly transparent nylon-6 nanofiber reinforced thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composite films. The procedure is simple and can be extended to the other thermoplastics. The morphology of fiber/matrix interface and the properties of composite films were also investigated. The method led to a significant reinforcement in mechanical properties of TPU like tensile strength, E modulus, strain, and toughness just using very small amounts of nylon fibers (about 0.4-1.7 wt %; 150-300 nm diameter). The enhanced mechanical properties were achieved without sacrificing optical properties like transparency of TPU.