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Metal hollow nanostructures have a wide range of potential applications in energy storage and conversion, owing to their low density, high surface to volume ratio, and high contact surface area.

Blood apheresis technologies are crucial during blood donation and toxin removal. Current purification methods such as leukocytapheresis, erythrocytapheresis, thrombocytapheresis and plasmapheresis primarily rely on centrifugation and membrane filtration to separate blood components. Although established and scaled-up, challenges related to the selectivity and long-term impact of these techniques on blood cells and their constituents remain. Shear generated during extraction may stress blood cells leading to cell damage and initiate the complement cascade causing platelet activation or triggering inflammatory responses. Emerging technologies, including microfluidics and selective adsorption present viable alternatives supporting more selective extraction pathways but extensively rely on novel manufacturing or material developments. This review critically assesses recent progress across apheresis technologies relating to advances in surface science and materials engineering to address operating challenges towards selective removal or extraction of blood components in traditional apheresis technologies such as centrifugation and membrane filtration.

Construction workers on highway rehabilitation projects can be exposed to a combination of traffic- and construction-related emissions. To assess the personal exposure a worker experiences, a portable battery-operated Air Quality Device (AQD) was utilised to measure emissions during normal construction operations of a major road rehabilitation project. Emissions measured were nitrogen dioxide (NO

Downsizing metal–organic framework (MOF) crystals into the nanoregime offers a promising approach to further benefit from their inherent versatile pore structures and surface reactivity. In this article, downsizing is referred to as the deliberate production of typical large MOF crystals into their nanosized versions. Here, we discuss various strategies towards the formation of crystals below 100 nm and their impact on the nano-MOF crystal properties. Strategies include an adjustment of the synthesis parameters (e.g., time, temperature, and heating rate), surface modification, ligand modulation, control of solvation during crystal growth and physical grinding methods. These approaches, which are categorized into bottom-up and top-down methods, are also critically discussed and linked to the kinetics of MOF formation as well as to the homogeneity of their size distribution and crystallinity. This collection of downsizing routes allows one to tailor features of MOFs, such as the morphology, size distribution, and pore accessibility, for a particular application. This review provides an outlook on the enhanced performance of downsized MOFs along with their potential use for both existing and novel applications in a variety of disciplines, such as medical, energy, and agricultural research. Methods for enhancing the properties of porous materials known as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) by making the crystals smaller have been reviewed by scientists in Australia and the Philippines. MOF crystals have an open atomic structure which includes large voids. MOFs are highly crystalline materials, typically generated in powder form, useful for applications such as hydrogen storage and carbon capture. Reducing the crystal sizes to nanometer scales significantly enhances the material’s physical and chemical properties. Ken Usman, Ludovic Dumee and Joselito Razal from Deakin University, Geelong, Australia, and co-workers have reviewed the latest methods for synthesizing MOF crystals smaller than a hundred nanometers. Synthesis strategies include altering a wide range of parameters such as time, temperature and heating rate. The authors show how these different approaches allow the properties of nano-sized MOF, including morphology and size distribution, to be controlled to suit a specific application. Metal organic frameworks are typically synthesized at the macroscale, into powders, films or as coatings generated across appropriate supporting materials. The downsizing of metal–organic frameworks offers opportunities to not only benefit from their properties at the nanoscale but also to enhance surface interactions and reactivities. The potential and challenges with current downsizing techniques are discussed in this review in light of materials properties and application performance.

Membrane reactors typically combine chemically reactive pathways with separation opportunities to increase conversion and chemical processes efficiency in liquid effluents treatment. The treatment of industrial bio-products, waste mixed solvents and agro-chemicals with such reactors are however challenging due to the natural affinity of such reactive materials for organic and biological matter leading to surface adsorption and fouling tendencies. Here, hybrid thin film composite catalytic membranes offering superior flow permeation characteristics, extremely high retention of low molecular weight organics and partial salt rejection capabilities were for the first time synthesized. Catalytic silver-metal nano-materials were for the first time homogeneously templated and encapsulated across metal organic frameworks nano-particles and incorporated across the top surface of poly(amide) thin films during interfacial polymerization. These novel materials offer high catalytic/anti-microbial behaviours due to the nano-structure of the metal nano-particles reduced within the metal organic framework template, forming unique hierarchical sub-100 nm hybrid nano-structures. These ultra-thin but yet dense membranes were able to simultaneously degrade chemicals and filter contaminants, opening new pathways for the design of the next generation thin film nano-composite membranes. Catalytic properties and homogeneity were evaluated for the Fenton-like heterogeneous catalytic degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, a waste pesticide contained in agricultural wastewater.

We report the preparation of polymer capsules containing liposomal subcompartments, termed capsosomes, and their ability for the sustained delivery of protein therapeutics. Capsosomes were formed through the layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of polymers and protein-loaded liposomes, followed by the formation of a capsule membrane based on disulfide cross-linked poly(methacrylic acid). The loading capacities of a model cargo (lysozyme) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), an important neurotrophin that has significant physiological functions on the nervous system, were determined, and the long-term release kinetics of the proteins was investigated in simulated physiological conditions. The capsosomes exhibited protein loading and release behavior that can be tuned by the lipid composition of the liposomal compartments, where inclusion of anionic lipids resulted in enhanced protein loading and slower release over the course of 80 days. These findings highlight the potential of capsosomes for the long-term delivery of protein therapeutics.

A facile route for synthesizing a diverse array of cargo‐loaded polymer capsules using polymer‐stabilized calcium carbonate particles is introduced by Frank Caruso and co‐workers in article number 1400007. Cargo, ranging from anti‐cancer drugs to plasmid DNA, could be loaded in high quantities, making this technique promising for a variety of applications.

A study on how correlation among FWD deflection data influences accuracy of the backcalculated pavement layer moduli is presented. FWD data were obtained from the Ministry of Construction, Road Test Section 609 and the data with stronger correlation were used in this study. Deflections without correlation and with similar correlation to the FWD data were generated using Monte Carlo simulation in order to investigate the effect of correlation on the backcalculation results. Furthermore, backcalculation analysis using theoretical deflection data with the same standard deviation but different correlations showed smaller variation in the backcalculation results for the deflection data with stronger correlation.

Results of structural evaluation analysis of pavement using FWD data from route 219 at Saito in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan are presented. FWD is a dynamic loading device. DSGT, a dynamic analysis method and AASHTO and NIPPO which are static analysis methods, are used for the analysis. Subgrade modulus and effective pavament full depth AC thickness are backcalculated. A potential problem of whether static analysis (mostly used method) or dynamic analysis should be performed on the data is discussed in this paper by looking at the difference of results these two methods give in the analysis of FWD data.

Polymer microcapsules are of particular interest for applications including self‐healing coatings, catalysis, bioreactions, sensing, and drug delivery. The primary way that polymer capsules can exhibit functionality relevant to these diverse fields is through the incorporation of functional cargo in the capsule cavity or wall. Diverse functional and therapeutic cargo can be loaded into polymer capsules with ease using polymer‐stabilized calcium carbonate (CaCO3) particles. A variety of examples are demonstrated, including 15 types of cargo, yielding a toolbox with effectively 500+ variations. This process uses no harsh reagents and can take less than 30 min to prepare, load, coat, and form the hollow capsules. For these reasons, it is expected that the technique will play a crucial role across scientific studies in numerous fields.

Mesoporous silica supraparticles (MS-SPs) self-assembled from mesoporous silica nanoparticles are reported on page 4244 by F. Caruso and co-workers. The MS-SPs are effective carriers for the sustained delivery of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Animal studies show that the MS-SPs can be implanted into the cochlea and deliver neurotrophins to prevent the progressive loss of the auditory neurons that normally occurs with deafness.

This paper (Part 2 of a two-part set of papers) discusses models and illustrates the adverse effects of weak layers, interlayers, laminations and/or weak interfaces in flexible and semi-flexible pavements, also incorporating lightly cemented layers. The modelling is based on mechanistic analyses for pavement design and evaluation. In Part 1, the effects of these relatively weak layers, interlayers, laminations and/or weak interfaces were discussed. It was shown that methodologies are available to detect and investigate the existence of these weak layers in cemented pavement layers. In Part 2, several cases of the above conditions for different road pavement types are discussed, with field examples. Mechanistic analyses were done on a typical hot mix asphalt (HMA), several cases of a cemented base pavement and a granular base pavement, with and without these weak layers and interface conditions to demonstrate their adverse effects. The analyses focus on the strain energy of distortion (SED) as a pavement response parameter to indicate the potential for structural damage expected within the pavement structure or layer. Generally, the higher the SED, the higher the potential damage in the pavement layer. SED shows some potential for quantifying the relative effects of these weak layers, interlayers, laminations and/or weak interfaces within flexible and semi-flexible pavements.