Facile synthesis, release mechanism, and life cycle assessment of amine-modified lignin for bifunctional slow-release fertilizer.

Biomass-based slow-release fertilizers (SRFs) are a sustainable solution for addressing food scarcity, improving fertilizer efficiency, and reducing pollution, whereas they still face complex preparation, high costs, and low release characteristics. This study introduces a simple and innovative approach to producing bifunctional green SRFs with controlled release and conditioning properties for saline soils and harsh environments. The method involves a one-pot preparation of microsphere-structured amine-modified lignin slow-release fertilizer (L-UX) using biomass lignin as the starting material. The L-UX demonstrates an exceptional fertilizer loading rate (66.2 %) and extended slow-release performance (288 h), effectively enhancing the fertilizer's release ability. Compared to traditional fertilizers, the bifunctional L-UX significantly improves soil water retention capacity (824.3 %), plant growth, and germination percentage in challenging soil conditions (133 %). These findings highlight the potential of L-UX as a large-scale controlled-release fertilizer in harsh environments. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was also conducted to evaluate the environmental impact of L-UX from its production to disposal. This revealed that L-UX has a minimal environmental footprint compared to conventional inorganic fertilizers. This study further supports the widespread application of L-UX as an environmentally friendly alternative.

Two-response surface design optimization of carboxylated CNCs with super high thermal stability and dye removal capability.

Discharging wastewater from industrial dyeing and printing processes poses a significant environmental threat, necessitating green and efficient adsorbents. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have emerged as a promising option for dye adsorbing. However, the industrial production and commercialization of CNCs still faced low yield, time-consuming, and uneco-friendly. In this study, we proposed a facile hydrochloric/maleic acid (HCl/C4H4O4) hydrolysis method to synthesize carboxylated CNCs using Box-Behnken design and dual response surface design, which can systematically investigate the effect of experimental factors (temperature, time and HCl/C4H4O volume ratio) on the final products. The rod-liked carboxylated CNCs gave the highest yield of 90.50 %, maximum carboxyl content of 1.29 mmol/g, and efficient dye removal ratio of 91.5 %. Furthermore, compared to CNCs obtained by commonly sulfuric acid hydrolysis way (CNCs-S) with a Tmax of 242.6 °C, the CNCs extracted at 5 h exhibited significantly improved thermal stability with Tmax reaching 351.2 °C. The enriched carboxyl content and excellent thermal stability show potential wastewater treatment applications under harsh conditions.

Regulating valence states of CuFe-PBA for the simultaneous electrochemical detection of Cd2+, Pb2+ and Hg2+ in food application.

Prussian blue analogues, as prospective electrode materials, play a crucial role in detecting heavy metal ions (HMIs), a process closely related to their electron transfer capacities and active surfaces. Here, etched copper-iron Prussian blue analogues (CuFe-PBA) are synthesized through a combination of flash nanoprecipitation (FNP) and an alkali etching process. Furthermore, this study investigates the impact of ammonia on the electronic structure of CuFe-PBA and its electrochemical detection capabilities for HMIs. The etched CuFe-PBA (e-CuFe-PBA) exhibits excellent detection performance for Cd2+, Pb2+ and Hg2+ with 17.6 µA µM-1, 24.2 µA µM-1 and 26.2 µA µM-1, respectively, due to the fact that the ammonia etching not only modulates the electronic properties of the surface of CuFe-PBA but also reduces the degree of agglomeration and enhances the accessible surface area. Additionally, it demonstrates excellent stability and resistance to interference, having been successfully applied to detect HMIs in food samples such as preserved eggs and apple juice. These results provide a new strategy for the use of Prussian blue analogues as electrochemical sensors for food safety applications.

Next-generation self-adhesive dressings: Highly stretchable, antibacterial, and UV-shielding properties enabled by tannic acid-coated cellulose nanocrystals.

Hydrogels with excellent high-water uptake and flexibility have great potential for wound dressing. However, pure hydrogels without fiber skeleton faced poor water retention, weak fatigue resistance, and mechanical strength to hinder the development of the dressing as next-generation functional dressings. We prepared an ultrafast gelation (6 s) Fe3+/TA-CNC hydrogel (CTFG hydrogel) based on a self-catalytic system and bilayer self-assembled composites. The CTFG hydrogel has excellent flexibility (800% of strain), fatigue resistance (support 60% compression cycles), antibacterial, and self-adhesive properties (no residue or allergy after peeling off the skin). CTFG@S bilayer composites were formed after electrospun silk fibroin (SF) membranes were prepared and adhesive with CTFG hydrogels. The CTFG@S bilayer composites had significant UV-shielding (99.95%), tensile strain (210.9 KPa), and sensitive humidity-sensing properties. Moreover, the integrated structure improved the mechanical properties of electrospun SF membranes. This study would provide a promising strategy for rapidly preparing multifunctional hydrogels for wound dressing.

Recent Advances in Nanowire-Based Wearable Physical Sensors.

Wearable electronics is a technology that closely integrates electronic devices with the human body or clothing, which can realize human-computer interaction, health monitoring, smart medical, and other functions. Wearable physical sensors are an important part of wearable electronics. They can sense various physical signals from the human body or the surrounding environment and convert them into electrical signals for processing and analysis. Nanowires (NW) have unique properties such as a high surface-to-volume ratio, high flexibility, high carrier mobility, a tunable bandgap, a large piezoresistive coefficient, and a strong light-matter interaction. They are one of the ideal candidates for the fabrication of wearable physical sensors with high sensitivity, fast response, and low power consumption. In this review, we summarize recent advances in various types of NW-based wearable physical sensors, specifically including mechanical, photoelectric, temperature, and multifunctional sensors. The discussion revolves around the structural design, sensing mechanisms, manufacture, and practical applications of these sensors, highlighting the positive role that NWs play in the sensing process. Finally, we present the conclusions with perspectives on current challenges and future opportunities in this field.

Electrochemical Performance and Mechanism of Bimetallic Organic Framework for Advanced Aqueous Zn Ion Batteries.

Widespread interest has been generated by aqueous zinc batteries (AZIBs), which have excellent theoretical capacities (820 mA h g-1), a low redox potential (-0.76 V vs SHE of Zn metal), and high security. Suitable cathodes for constructing high performance AZIBs are of great signification. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with adjustable structure via metals and organic units show great potential in AZIBs. In this work, ZnMn-Squaric acid (ZnMn-SQ) was synthesized using squaric acid through coprecipitation and served as the cathode for AZIBs. The ZnMn-SQ electrode demonstrated a high capacity of 489.1 mA h g-1 at 0.2 A g-1. Meanwhile, ZnMn-SQ can obtain 80.7 mA h g-1 after 1300 cycles, showing an outstanding long cycle life. More importantly, ex situ characterizations of XRD, XPS, and FT-IR revealed that ZnMn-SQ undergoes a structural transformation from the initial ZnMn-SQ framework to manganese oxide accompanied by Zn-SQ and then reduced to MnOOH, ZnMn2O4, and Zn4SO4(OH)6·5H2O (ZHS) in subsequent cycles. In addition, a modified zinc anode using cubic porous Zn-SQ-3d was used to construct ZnMn-SQ // Zn-SQ-3d@Zn(Zn-SQ-3d-coated Zn) high performance AZIBs, the capacity of which reaches 171.3 mA h g-1 at 1 A g-1 after 660 cycles. This work provided chances for constructing high-performance zinc ion batteries using MOF compounds.

Liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry method for the assay of glucosamine sulfate in human plasma: validation and application to a pharmacokinetic study.

A liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) method was developed and validated for the assay of glucosamine sulfate in human plasma. Plasma proteins were precipitated by acetonitrile, followed by vortex mixing and centrifugation. The supernatant was transferred and derivatized with phenyl iso-thiocyanate in acetonitrile at 60 degrees C for 40 min. Chromatographic separation was performed on a C(18) column (Inertsil ODS-3 150 x 2.1 mm i.d., 5 microm, JP) with a mobile phase gradient consisting of 0.2% acetic acid (aqueous) and methanol at a flow-rate of 0.3 mL/min. MS detection using electrospray ionization (ESI) as an interface was used in single ion monitoring mode to determine positive ions at m/z 297. This method was shown to be selective and sensitive for glucosamine sulfate. The limit of detection was 35 ng/mL for glucosamine sulfate in plasma and the linear range was 0.1-20 microg/mL in plasma with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9991. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of intra-day and inter-day assays were 8.7-11.4 and 9.8-12.6%, respectively. Extraction recoveries of glucosamine sulfate in plasma were greater than 73%. This method proved to be simple, reproducible and feasible for pharmacokinetic studies of glucosamine sulfate in healthy volunteers after a single oral administration (1500 mg). The pharmacokinetic parameters and relative bioavailabilities were investigated for both domestic glucosamine sulfate tablet and capsule preparations compared with an imported capsule product.