Search

Construction of sustainable composite biofilms from natural biopolymers are greatly promising for advanced packaging applications due to their biodegradable, biocompatible, and renewable properties. In this work, sustainable advanced food packaging films are developed by incorporating lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) as green nanofillers to starch films. This seamless combination of bio-nanofiller with biopolymer matrix is enabled by the uniform size of nanofillers and the strong interfacial hydrogen bonding. As a result, the as-prepared biocomposites exhibit enhanced mechanical properties, thermal stability, and antioxidant activity. Moreover, they also present outstanding ultraviolet (UV) irradiation shielding performance. As a proof of concept in the application of food packaging, we evaluate the effect of composite films on delaying oxidative deterioration of soybean oil. The results indicate our composite film could significantly decrease peroxide value (POV), saponification value (SV), and acid value (AV) to delay oxidation of soybean oil during storage. Overall, this work provides a simple and effective method for the preparation of starch-based films with enhanced antioxidant and barrier properties for advanced food packaging applications.

The development of modern electronics has raised great demand for multifunctional materials to protect electronic instruments against electromagnetic interference (EMI) radiation and ice accretion in cold weather. However, it is still a great challenge to prepare high-performance multifunctional films with excellent flexibilty, mechanical strength, and durability. Here, we propose a layer-by-layer assembly of cellulose nanofiber (CNF)/Ti3C2Tx nanocomposites (TM) on a bacterial cellulose (BC) substrate via repeated spray coating. CNFs are hybridized with Ti3C2Tx nanoflakes to improve the mechanical properties of the functional coating layer and its adhesion with the BC substrate. The densely packed hierarchical structure and strong interfacial interactions endows the TM/BC films with good flexibility, ultrahigh mechanical strength (>250 MPa), and desirable toughness (>20 MJ cm-3). Furthermore, benefiting from the densely packed hierarchical structure, the resultant TM/BC films present outstanding EMI shielding effictiveness of 60 dB and efficient electro-/photothermal heating performance. Silicone encapsulation further imparts high hydrophobicity and exceptional durability against solutions and deformations to the multifunctional films. Impressively, the silicone-coated TM/BC film (Si-TM/BC) exhibits desirable low voltage-driven Joule heating and excellent photoresponsive heating performance, which demonstrates great feasibility for efficient thermal deicing under actual conditions. Therefore, we believe that the Si-TM/BC film with excellent mechanical properties and durability holds great promise for the practical applications of EMI shielding and ice accretion elimination.

Delicately aligned structures of two-dimensional (2D) MXene nanosheets have demonstrated positive effects on applications, especially in electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and infrared (IR) stealth. However, precise regulation of structural assembly by theory-guided solution processing is still a great challenge. Herein, one-dimensional (1D) cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) with a high aspect ratio are applied as a reinforcing agent and a rheological modifier for MXene/CNF colloids to fabricate aligned MXene-based materials for EMI shielding and IR stealth. Notably, a systematical rheological study of the MXene/CNF colloids is proposed to determine the optimal solution-processing conditions for finely oriented component arrangement requirements and provides in-depth information on the interactions between the components. The delicately regulated orientation structure assembled by shear inducement is convincingly demonstrated through micro-CT and wide-angle X-ray diffraction/small-angle X-ray scattering (WAXD/SAXS), which endows the MXene/CNF film with a significantly enhanced electrical conductivity of 46 685 S m

The development of modern electronics has raised great demand for multifunctional materials to protect electronic instruments against electromagnetic interference (EMI) radiation and ice accretion in cold weather. However, it is still a great challenge to prepare high-performance multifunctional films with excellent flexibilty, mechanical strength, and durability. Here, we propose a layer-by-layer assembly of cellulose nanofiber (CNF)/Ti

Development of non-noble multi-metallic electrocatalyst with high oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity via a simple and low-cost method is of great importance for improving the efficiency of water electro-chemical splitting. Herein, a solution impregnation strategy was proposed to synthesize novel FeNi-doped Co-ZIF-L trimetallic hybrid electrocatalyst using Co-ZIF-L as sacrificial templates and Fe and Ni ions as etchants and dopants. This synthetic strategy could be realized via the etching-coprecipitation mechanism to obtain an amorphous hybrid containing multi-metal hydroxides. The as-prepared electrocatalyst loaded on Ni foam displays a low overpotential of 245 mV at 10 mA·cm-2, a small Tafel slope of 54.9 mV·dec-1, and excellent stability at least 12 h in the OER process. The facile and efficient synthetic strategy presents a new entry for the fabrication of ZIFs-derived multi-metallic electrocatalysts for OER electrocatalysis.

In this study, we used murine chondrocytes as an in vitro model and mice exhibiting destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) as an in vivo model to investigate the mechanisms through which S-allyl cysteine (SAC) alleviates osteoarthritis (OA). SAC significantly reduced apoptosis and senescence and maintained homeostasis of extracellular matrix (ECM) metabolism in tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP)-treated chondrocytes. Molecular docking analysis showed a -CDOCKER interaction energy value of 203.76 kcal/mol for interactions between SAC and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). SAC increased the nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and activated the Nrf2/HO1 signaling pathway in TBHP-treated chondrocytes. Furthermore, Nrf2 knockdown abrogated the antiapoptotic, antisenescence, and ECM regulatory effects of SAC in TBHP-treated chondrocytes. SAC treatment also significantly reduced cartilage ossification and erosion, joint-space narrowing, synovial thickening and hypercellularity in DMM model mice. Collectively, these findings show that SAC ameliorates OA pathology in TBHP-treated chondrocytes and DMM model mice by activating the Nrf2/HO1 signaling pathway.

In this study, PLA/TiO2 composites materials were prepared via electrospinning and solution casting processes. By testing the mechanical properties, water contact angle, water vapor permeability, and solubility of the composite nanofibers and films, the comprehensive performances of the two types of nanocomposites were analyzed. The results show that maximum tensile strengths of 2.71 &plusmn, 0.11 MPa and 14.49 &plusmn, 0.13 MPa were achieved for the nanofibers and films at a TiO2 content of 0.75 wt.%. Moreover, the addition of TiO2 significantly cut down the water vapor transmittance rate of the nanofibers and films while significantly improving the water solubility. Further, the antibacterial activity increased under UV-A irradiation for a TiO2 nanoparticle content of 0.75 wt.%, and the nanofiber and films exhibited inhibition zones of 4.86 &plusmn, 0.50 and 3.69 &plusmn, 0.40 mm for E. coli, and 5.98 &plusmn, 0.77 and 4.63 &plusmn, 0.45 mm for S. aureus, respectively. Overall, the performance of the nanofiber was better than that of the film. Nevertheless, both the nanocomposite membranes satisfied the requirements of food packaging materials.