A nanocarrier immersion vaccine encoding surface immunogenic protein confers cross-immunoprotection against Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus iniae infection in tilapia.

Streptococcosis is a highly contagious aquatic bacterial disease that poses a significant threat to tilapia. Vaccination is a well-known effective measure to prevent and control fish bacterial diseases. Among the various immunization methods, immersion vaccination is simple and can be widely used in aquaculture. Besides, nanocarrier delivery technology has been reported as an effective solution to improve the immune effect of immersion vaccine. In this study, the surface immunogenic protein (Sip) was proved to be conserved and potential to provide cross-immunoprotection for both Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) and Streptococcus iniae (S. iniae) by multiple sequences alignment and Western blotting analysis. On this basis, we expressed and obtained the recombinant protein rSip and connected it with functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNT) to construct the nanocarrier vaccine system CNT-rSip. After immersion immunization, the immune effect of CNT-rSip against above two streptococcus infections was evaluated in tilapia based on some aspects including the serum specific antibody level, non-specific enzyme activities, immune-related genes expression and relative percent survival (RPS) after bacteria challenge. The results showed that compared with control group, CNT-rSip significantly (P < 0.05) increased the serum antibody levels, related enzyme activities including acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, lysozyme and total antioxidant capacity activities, as well as the expression levels of immune-related genes from 2 to 4 weeks post immunization (wpi), and all these indexes peaked at 3 wpi. Besides, the above indexes of CNT-rSip were higher than those of rSip group with different extend during the experiment. Furthermore, the challenge test indicated that CNT-rSip provided cross-immunoprotection against S. agalactiae and S. iniae infection with RPS of 75 % and 72.41 %, respectively, which were much higher than those of other groups. Our study indicated that the nanocarrier immersion vaccine CNT-rSip could significantly improve the antibody titer and confer cross-immuneprotection against S. agalactiae and S. iniae infection in tilapia.

Facile fabrication of durable antibacterial and anti-felting wool fabrics with enhanced comfort via novel N-phenylmaleimide finishing.

In this study, we successfully synthesized N-phenylmaleimide (NPMI) and applied it to wool fabrics to obtain robust antimicrobial properties. First, tris(2-carboxyethyl) phosphine (TCEP) was utilized as a reducing agent to produce thiol-active groups on wool fibers. These thiol groups were then reacted with the C=C group of NPMI via thiol-ene click chemistry. The morphology and structure of the finished NPMI composite wool fabric were characterized using FT-IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The composite wool fabrics exhibited durable antibacterial properties against both S. aureus and E. coli and the antimicrobial rates of both E. coli and S. aureus were around 99% after one standard washing cycle, with only a slight decrease of 95% after ten standard washing cycles, respectively. In addition, the composite wool fabric exhibited good anti-felting performance and maintained its original excellent breathability and moisture permeability. The present work provides a facile and sustainable strategy for constructing durable antimicrobial wool fabrics without losing their original properties.

Au-TiO2/Ti Hybrid Coating as a Liquid and Gas Diffusion Layer with Improved Performance and Stability in Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzer.

The liquid and gas diffusion layer is a key component of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE), and its interfacial contact resistance (ICR) and corrosion resistance have a great impact on the performance and durability of PEMWE. In this work, a novel hybrid coating with Au contacts discontinuously embedded in a titanium oxidized layer was constructed on a Ti felt via facile electrochemical metallizing and followed by a pre-oxidization process. The physicochemical characterizations, such as scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, and X-ray diffraction results confirmed that the distribution and morphology of the Au contacts could be regulated with the electrical pulse time, and a hybrid coating (Au-TiO2/Ti) was eventually achieved after the long-term stability test under anode environment. At the compaction force of 140 N cm-2, the ICR was reduced from 19.7 mΩ cm2 of the P-Ti to 4.2 mΩ cm2 of the Au-TiO2/Ti. The corrosion current density at 1.8 V (RHE) is 0.689 µA cm-2. Both the ICR and corrosion resistance results showed that the prepared protective coating could provide comparable ICR and corrosion resistance to a dense Au coating.

Epitope screening of the major capsid protein within grouper iridovirus of Taiwan and the immunoprotective effect with SWCNTs as the vaccine carrier.

Iridovirus can cause a mass of death in grouper, leading to huge economic loss in recent years. At present, practical vaccine is still the best way to control the outbreak of this virus. Many researches had indicated that the major capsid protein (MCP) of grouper iridovirus of Taiwan (TGIV) is an effective antigen to induce a specific immune response in grouper. However, these traditional vaccines that based on large proteins or whole organisms are faced with challenges because of the unnecessary antigenic load. Thus, in this study, we screened the dominant linear epitope within the MCP of TGIV and then, a new peptide vaccine (P2) was developed via prokaryotic expression system. Furthermore, SWCNTs was used as a vaccine carrier to enhance the immunoprotective effect. To evaluate the immunoprotective effect of this vaccine, a total of 245 fish were vaccinated with P2 (5, 10, 20 mg L-1) and SWCNTs-P2 (5, 10, 20 mg L-1) via immersion before being challenged with live TGIV at 28 days post immunization (d.p.i.). Results showed that the serum antibody titer, enzymatic activity, expression level of some immune-related genes (CC chemokine, IgM and TNF-α) and survival rate were significantly increased (SWCNTs-P2, 20 mg L-1, 100%) compared to the control group (0%). These results indicated that this peptide vaccine could effectively induce specific immune response in vaccinated groupers. Functionalized SWCNTs could serve as a carrier of the peptide vaccine to enhance the immunoprotective effect via immersion. To sum up, epitope screening might be a potential way to develop an effective vaccine nowadays, and SWCNTs might provide a practical method that can be used in large-scale vaccination, especially for juvenile fish, to fight against diseases in aquaculture industry.

The immunoprotective effect of whole-cell lysed inactivated vaccine with SWCNT as a carrier against Aeromonas hydrophila infection in grass carp.

Aeromonas hydrophila is a strong gram-negative bacterium that can cause a mass death of grass carp, and result in the huge economic loss. Development of practical vaccines is the best way to control the outbreak of this bacterial disease. In this study, a whole-cell inactivated vaccine was obtained via sonication, and then single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was used to link to the bacterial lysate (BL) for a novel vaccine (SWCNTs-BL). A total of 400 fish were vaccinated with BL and SWCNTs-BL via immersion (5, 10 mg L-1) or injection (5, 10 µg/fish) before challenge with live A. hydrophila at the 28 days post immunization (d.p.i.). The results showed that the antibody titer, enzymatic activity, expression of some immune-related genes (especially IgM and TNF-α) and RPS of fish in the injection groups were significantly increased compared to the control group after 28 d.p.i. For the immersion groups, immunological parameters were increased compared to the control group. Furthermore, the immuno-protective effects of SWCNTs-BL were better than BL. The above results indicated that BL of A. hydrophila can effectively induce specific immune response of grass carp, and BL linked with functionalized SWCNTs could enhance the protective effect of immersion immunization. Our results may provide a practical vaccine, with a simple production, to fight against bacterial diseases in aquaculture industry.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes enhance the immune protective effect of a bath subunit vaccine for pearl gentian grouper against Iridovirus of Taiwan.

Iridovirus of Taiwan (TGIV) has been threatening the grouper farming since 1997, effective prophylaxis method is urgently needed. Subunit vaccine was proved to be useful to against the virus. Bath is the simplest method of vaccination and easy to be administrated without any stress to fish. In this research, we constructed a prokaryotic expression vector of TGIV's major capsid protein (MCP) to acquire the vaccine. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were used as the carrier to enhance the protective effect of bath vaccination for juvenile pearl gentian grouper (bath with concentrations of 5, 10, 20 mg/L for 6 h). Virus challenge was done after 28 days. Survival rates were calculated after 14 days. The level of antibody, activities of related enzymes in serums and expression of immune-related genes in kidneys and spleens were test. The results showed that vaccine with SWCNTs as carrier induced a higher level of antibody than that without. In addition, the activities of related enzymes (acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, superoxide dismutase) and the expression of immune-related genes (Mx1, IgM, TNFαF, Lysozyme, CC chemokine 1, IL1-ß, IL-8) had a significantly increase. What's more, higher survival rates (42.10%, 77.77%, 89.47%) were provided by vaccine with SWCNTs than vaccine without SWCNTs (29.41%, 38.09%, 43.75%). This study suggests that the protective effect of vaccine that against TGIV with the method of bath vaccination could be enhanced by SWCNTs and SWCNTs could be a potential carrier for other subunit vaccines.

Toxic effects of arsenic trioxide on spermatogonia are associated with oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, autophagy and metabolomic alterations.

Arsenic is a toxic metalloid that can cause male reproductive malfunctions and is widely distributed in the environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxicity of arsenic trioxide (ATO) induced GC-1 spermatogonial (spg) cells. Our results found that ATO increased the levels of catalase (CAT) and malonaldehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), while decreasing glutathione (GSH) and the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC). Therefore, ATO triggered oxidative stress in GC-1 spg cells. In addition, ATO also caused severe mitochondrial dysfunction that included an increase in residual oxygen consumption (ROX), and decreased the routine respiration, maximal and ATP-linked respiration (ATP-L-R), as well as spare respiratory capacity (SRC), and respiratory control rate (RCR); ATO also damaged the mitochondrial structure, including mitochondrial cristae disordered and dissolved, mitochondrial vacuolar degeneration. Moreover, degradation of p62, LC3 conversion, increasing the number of acidic vesicle organelles (AVOs) and autophagosomes and autolysosomes are demonstrated that the cytotoxicity of ATO may be associated with autophagy. Meanwhile, the metabolomics analysis results showed that 20 metabolites (10 increased and 10 decreased) were significantly altered with the ATO exposure, suggesting that maybe there are the perturbations in amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, glycan biosynthesis and metabolism, metabolism of cofactors and vitamins. We concluded that ATO was toxic to GC-1 spg cells via inducing oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and autophagy as well as the disruption of normal metabolism. This study will aid our understanding of the mechanisms behind ATO-induced spermatogenic toxicity.

Effect of a background Ca2+ entry pathway mediated by TRPC1 on myocardial damage of broilers with induced ascites syndrome.

Ascites syndrome (AS) in chickens is associated with profound vascular remodelling and increased pulmonary artery pressure as well as right ventricular hypertrophy. Classical transient receptor potential cation channels (TRPCs) are key regulators of cardiac hypertrophy that act via regulation of calcium influx in mammals. We investigated whether classical transient receptor potential channels in chickens with right ventricular hypertrophy still possess this mechanism for regulating Ca2+ flux. Intravenous injection of cellulose particles was successfully used to induce AS in chickens, and tissues were examined 22 days after treatment. The chickens in the test group showed cardiac hypertrophy with oedema of the cardiac muscle and disruption of myofilaments. The right-to-total ventricle weight ratio (RV/TV), the levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and creatine kinase (CK) of the test group were significantly higher than in the control group. Intracellular calcium levels were significantly increased in cardiomyocytes from chickens in the test group. Gene expression of TRPC3, TRPC4, TRPC5, TRPC6 and TRPC7 in heart tissues from the test group showed no significant differences compared with controls. However, TRPC1 protein levels, as well as mRNA levels, were down-regulated in the heart muscle of AS chickens (P < 0.05). Although we observed an increase in calcium concentration, the expression of TRPC1 decreased in cardiac cells. We hypothesized that an increase in intracellular free calcium concentration could inversely regulate calcium channel expression. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Intracellular Ca2+ levels were increased in the myocardium of AS broilers. Expression of TRPC1, which mediates calcium influx, was decreased in the myocardium of AS broilers. The relationship between intracellular Ca2+ levels and expression of TRPC1 requires further study.

Immune response and protective effect against spring viremia of carp virus induced by intramuscular vaccination with a SWCNTs-DNA vaccine encoding matrix protein.

To elicit the immune protective of vaccine against the highly contagious and pathogenic disease caused by spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV), a novel functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were applied as a delivery vehicle for DNA vaccine. In this study, we report a SWCNTs-DNA vaccine encoding matrix protein of SVCV which, when injected in the muscle at a dose of 10 µg SWCNTs-pcDNA-M vaccine, confers up to 51.3% protection against intraperitoneal challenge with SVCV. In addition, SWCNTs as a promising vehicle can enhance about 17.5% of the immune protective effect in SWCNTs-pcDNA-M vaccinated common carp compared with fish injected with naked pcDNA-M DNA vaccine. In addition, serum antibody production, none specific immunity parameters (complement activity, superoxide dismutase activity (SOD), acid phosphatase activity (ACP) and alkaline phosphatase activity (AKP)) and immune-related genes were used to verify the enhancement immune response induced in SWCNTs-pcDNA-M vaccinated fish, herein all these mentioned immune activities were significantly enhanced after immunization. Thereby, it is revealed that the M gene of SVCV could be used as an antigen for DNA vaccine constructs, and SWCNTs could be a candidate DNA vaccine carrier to enhance the immunological response against fish disease.

Association between problematic social networking use and anxiety symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

A growing number of studies have reported that problematic social networking use (PSNU) is strongly associated with anxiety symptoms. However, due to the presence of multiple anxiety subtypes, existing research findings on the extent of this association vary widely, leading to a lack of consensus. The current meta-analysis aimed to summarize studies exploring the relationship between PSNU levels and anxiety symptoms, including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, attachment anxiety, and fear of missing out. 209 studies with a total of 172 articles were included in the meta-analysis, involving 252,337 participants from 28 countries. The results showed a moderately positive association between PSNU and generalized anxiety (GA), social anxiety (SA), attachment anxiety (AA), and fear of missing out (FoMO) respectively (GA: r = 0.388, 95% CI [0.362, 0.413]; SA: r = 0.437, 95% CI [0.395, 0.478]; AA: r = 0.345, 95% CI [0.286, 0.402]; FoMO: r = 0.496, 95% CI [0.461, 0.529]), and there were different regulatory factors between PSNU and different anxiety subtypes. This study provides the first comprehensive estimate of the association of PSNU with multiple anxiety subtypes, which vary by time of measurement, region, gender, and measurement tool.

Exploring the Immunoprotective Potential of a Nanocarrier Immersion Vaccine Encoding Sip against Streptococcus Infection in Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).

Tilapia, as one of the fish widely cultured around the world, is suffering severe impact from the streptococcus disease with the deterioration of the breeding environment and the increasing of breeding density, which brings serious economic loss to tilapia farming. In this study, the surface immunogenic protein (Sip) of Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) was selected as the potential candidate antigen and connected with bacterial nano cellulose (BNC) to construct the nanocarrier subunit vaccine (BNC-rSip), and the immersion immune effects against S. agalactiae and Streptococcus iniae (S. iniae) in Nile tilapia were evaluated on the basis of the serum antibody level, non-specific enzyme activity, the immune-related gene expression and relative percent survival (RPS). The results indicated that Sip possessed the expected immunogenicity according to the immunoinformatic analysis. Compared with the rSip group, BNC-rSip significantly induced serum antibody production and improved the innate immunity level of tilapia. After challenge, the RPS of BNC-rSip groups were 78.95% (S. agalactiae) and 67.86% (S. iniae), which were both higher than those of rSip groups,31.58% (S. agalactiae) and 35.71% (S. iniae), respectively. Our study indicated that BNC-rSip can induce protective immunity for tilapia through immersion immunization and may be an ideal candidate vaccine for controlling tilapia streptococcal disease.

BNC-rSS, a bivalent subunit nanovaccine affords the cross-protection against Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus iniae infection in tilapia.

Streptococcal disease has severely restricted the development of global tilapia industry, which is mainly caused by Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) and Streptococcus iniae (S. iniae). Vaccination has been proved to be a potential strategy to control it. In this study, a multi-epitope subunit vaccine Sip-Srr (SS) was prepared based on the B-cell antigenic epitopes prediction and multiple sequence alignment analysis of Sip and Srr sequences. Furthermore, the BNC-rSS nanocarrier vaccine system was constructed by connecting the rSS protein with modified bacterial nanocellulose (BNCs) and characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope, the immersion immune effect against S. agalactiae and S. iniae infection was evaluated. The results showed that compared with the control group, BNC-rSS significantly enhanced serum antibody production, related enzyme activities and immune-related genes expression. It was noteworthy that BNC-rSS vaccine improved immune protection of tilapia, with survival rates of 66.67 % (S. agalactiae) and 60.00 % (S. iniae), respectively, compared with those of rSS vaccine (30 % and 33.33 %, respectively). Our study indicated that the BNC-rSS nanovaccine could elicit robust immune responses in tilapia by immersion immunization, and had the potential to offer cross-protection against S. agalactiae and S. iniae infection in tilapia.

Stability and bifurcation analysis of a tumor-immune system with two delays and diffusion.

A tumor-immune system with diffusion and delays is proposed in this paper. First, we investigate the impact of delay on the stability of nonnegative equilibrium for the model with a single delay, and the system undergoes Hopf bifurcation when delay passes through some critical values. We obtain the normal form of Hopf bifurcation by applying the multiple time scales method for determining the stability and direction of bifurcating periodic solutions. Then, we study the tumor-immune model with two delays, and show the conditions under which the nontrivial equilibria are locally asymptotically stable. Thus, we can restrain the diffusion of tumor cells by controlling the time delay associated with the time of tumor cell proliferation and the time of immune cells recognizing tumor cells. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to illustrate our analytic results.

Stainless Steel-Supported Amorphous Nickel Phosphide/Nickel as an Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

Recently, nickel phosphides (Ni-P) in an amorphous state have emerged as potential catalysts with high intrinsic activity and excellent electrochemical stability for hydrogen evolution reactions (HER). However, it still lacks a good strategy to prepare amorphous Ni-P with rich surface defects or structural boundaries, and it is also hard to construct a porous Ni-P layer with favorable electron transport and gas-liquid transport. Herein, an integrated porous electrode consisting of amorphous Ni-P and a Ni interlayer was successfully constructed on a 316L stainless steel felt (denoted as Ni-P/Ni-316L). The results demonstrated that the pH of the plating solution significantly affected the grain size, pore size and distribution, and roughness of the cell-like particle surface of the amorphous Ni-P layer. The Ni-P/Ni-316L prepared at pH = 3 presented the richest surface defects or structural boundaries as well as porous structure. As expected, the as-developed Ni-P/Ni-316L demonstrated the best kinetics, with η10 of 73 mV and a Tafel slope of ca. 52 mV dec-1 for the HER among all the electrocatalysts prepared at various pH values. Furthermore, the Ni-P/Ni-316L exhibited comparable electrocatalytic HER performance and better durability than the commercial Pt (20 wt%)/C in a real water electrolysis cell, indicating that the non-precious metal-based Ni-P/Ni-316L is promising for large-scale processing and practical use.

Robust Porous TiN Layer for Improved Oxygen Evolution Reaction Performance.

The poor reversibility and slow reaction kinetics of catalytic materials seriously hinder the industrialization process of proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis. It is necessary to develop high-performance and low-cost electrocatalysts to reduce the loss of reaction kinetics. In this study, a novel catalyst support featured with porous surface structure and good electronic conductivity was successfully prepared by surface modification via a thermal nitriding method under ammonia atmosphere. The morphology and composition characterization-confirmed that a TiN layer with granular porous structure and internal pore-like defects was established on the Ti sheet. Meanwhile, the conductivity measurements showed that the in-plane electronic conductivity of the as-developed material increased significantly to 120.8 S cm−1. After IrOx was loaded on the prepared TiN-Ti support, better dispersion of the active phase IrOx, lower ohmic resistance, and faster charge transfer resistance were verified, and accordingly, more accessible catalytic active sites on the catalytic interface were developed as revealed by the electrochemical characterizations. Compared with the IrOx/Ti, the as-obtained IrOx/TiN-Ti catalyst demonstrated remarkable electrocatalytic activity (η10 mA cm−2 = 302 mV) and superior stability (overpotential degradation rate: 0.067 mV h−1) probably due to the enhanced mass adsorption and transport, good dispersion of the supported active phase IrOx, increased electronic conductivity and improved corrosion resistance provided by the TiN-Ti support.

Synthesis, Physical Properties and Electrocatalytic Performance of Nickel Phosphides for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction of Water Electrolysis.

Nickel phosphides have been investigated as an alternative to noble metals and have emerged as potential catalysts that can efficiently catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, the impacts of facet morphology and crystal structure of the nickel phosphides on their catalytic reactivity have not been systematically investigated. Herein, nickel phosphides with different crystalline states were prepared through a facile calcination treatment. It was found that the calcination treatment had important effects on the phase compositions, morphologies, and crystallinity of nickel phosphides, which are closely related to their HER activity. Generally, the crystallized Ni-P catalysts exhibited faster kinetics than the amorphous Ni-P. In particular, the Ni-P 300 showed remarkable HER performance with η10 of ca. 65 mV, along with a very low Tafel slope of ca. 44 mV dec-1 due to the increased catalytically active sites. Furthermore, the Ni-P 300 exhibited negligible decay during the 140 h galvanostatic electrolysis, showing better catalytic stability than the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Compared with the amorphous Ni-P, the boosted HER activity of the Ni-P 300 could benefit from the mixed nanocrystalline Ni2P and Ni3P, which could contribute to the Hads adsorption/desorption abilities and helped provide more activity sites, promoting the HER performance.

Preparation and Performance Study of the Anodic Catalyst Layer via Doctor Blade Coating for PEM Water Electrolysis.

The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is the core component of proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis cell, which provides a place for water decomposition to generate hydrogen and oxygen. The microstructure, thickness, IrO2 loading as well as the uniformity and quality of the anodic catalyst layer (ACL) have great influence on the performance of PEM water electrolysis cell. Aiming at providing an effective and low-cost fabrication method for MEA, the purpose of this work is to optimize the catalyst ink formulation and achieve the ink properties required to form an adherent and continuous layer with doctor blade coating method. The ink formulation (e.g., isopropanol/H2O of solvents and solids content) were adjusted, and the doctor blade thickness was optimized. The porous structure and the thickness of the doctor blade coating ACL were further confirmed with the in-plane and the cross-sectional SEM analyses. Finally, the effect of the ink formulation and the doctor blade thickness of the ACL on the cell performance were characterized in a PEM electrolyzer under ambient pressure at 80 °C. Overall, the optimized doctor blade coating ACL showed comparable performance to that prepared with the spraying method. It is proved that the doctor blade coating is capable of high-uniformity coating.

Ordered Porous TiO2@C Layer as an Electrocatalyst Support for Improved Stability in PEMFCs.

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are the most promising clean energy source in the 21st century. In order to achieve a high power density, electrocatalytic performance, and electrochemical stability, an ordered array structure membrane electrode is highly desired. In this paper, a new porous Pt-TiO2@C ordered integrated electrode was prepared and applied to the cathode of a PEMFC. The utilization of the TiO2@C support can significantly decrease the loss of catalyst caused by the oxidation of the carbon from the conventional carbon layer due to the strong interaction of TiO2 and C. Furthermore, the thin carbon layer coated on TiO2 provides the rich active sites for the Pt growth, and the ordered support and catalyst structure reduces the mass transport resistance and improves the stability of the electrode. Due to its unique structural characteristics, the ordered porous Pt-TiO2@C array structure shows an excellent catalytic activity and improved Pt utilization. In addition, the as-developed porous ordered structure exhibits superior stability after 3000 cycles of accelerated durability test, which reveals an electrochemical surface area decay of less than 30%, considerably lower than that (i.e., 80%) observed for the commercial Pt/C.

Construction of sustainable and multifunctional polyester fabrics via an efficiently and eco-friendly spray-drying layer-by-layer strategy.

Polyester fabric (PET fabric) has aroused widespread attention from people thanks to the advantages of smooth feel, easy washing, quick-drying, high strength, and chemical resistance. However, PET fabric's wide application has been limited by its hydrophobicity, poor resistance to bacterial contamination, and static accumulation. Herein, a super-hydrophilic PET fabric was achieved via a spray-drying layer-by-layer self-assembly method for comfortable garment manufacturing. The as-prepared PET fabric exhibited good superhydrophilicity, excellent antistatic property, and durable antibacterial performance. Moreover, the water contact angle of the treated fabric decreased to 0° from 121° of the original PET fabric, and the capillary height also increased from 7.1 cm to 21.4 cm. Besides, the treated fabric showed a durable antibacterial rate of 99.5% against both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) after ten standard washing cycles. The prepared fabric was also identified with good cytocompatibility, making it a good material for garments in real life. Promisingly, this novel approach can be easily integrated into the finishing of textiles and is expected to be applied to various substrates with superhydrophilic and antibacterial properties.

Ordered SnO2@C Flake Array as Catalyst Support for Improved Electrocatalytic Activity and Cathode Durability in PEMFCs.

Pt-SnO2@C-ordered flake array was developed on carbon paper (CP) as an integrated cathode for proton exchange membrane fuel cell through a facile hydrothermal method. In the integrated cathode, Pt nanoparticles were deposited uniformly with a small particle size on the SnO2@C/CP support. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis revealed lower impedance in a potential range of 0.3-0.5 V for the ordered electrode structure. An electrochemically active surface area and oxygen reduction peak potential determined by cyclic voltammetry measurement verified the synergistic effect between Pt and SnO2, which enhanced the electrochemical catalytic activity. Besides, compared with the commercial carbon-supported Pt catalyst, the as-developed SnO2@C/CP-supported Pt catalyst demonstrated better stability, most likely due to the positive interaction between SnO2 and the carbon coating layer.