Nanomaterials Based Multifunctional Bioactivities of V2O5 and Mesoporous Carbon@V2O5 Composite: Preparation and Characterization.

Nanocarriers have attracted considerable interest due to their prospective applications in the delivery of anticancer medications and their distinct bioactivities. Biogenic nanostructures can be effective nanocarriers for delivering drugs as a consequence of sustainable and biodegradable biomass-derived nanostructures that perform specific functions. In this case, a vanadium oxide (V2O5) and mesoporous carbon@V2O5 (C@V) composite was developed as a possible drug delivery system, and its bioactivities, including antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer, were investigated. Doxorubicin (DOX), an anticancer drug, was introduced to the nanoparticles, and the loading and release investigation was conducted. Strong interfacial interactions between mesoporous carbon (MC) and V2O5 nanostructures have been found to improve performance in drug loading and release studies and bioactivities. After incubation, the potent anticancer effectiveness was seen based on C@V nanocomposite. This sample was also utilized to research potential biomedical uses as an antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer. The most effective antioxidant, the C@V sample (61.2%), exhibited a higher antioxidant activity than the V-2 sample (44.61%). The C@V sample ultimately attained a high DOX loading efficacy of 88%, in comparison to a pure V2O5 sample (V-2) loading efficacy of 80%. Due to the combination of mesoporous carbon and V2O5, which increases specific surface area and surface sites of action as well as the morphology, it proved that the mesoporous carbon@V2O5 composite (C@V) sample demonstrated greater efficacy.

Mechanically Strengthened Aerogels through Multiscale, Multicompositional, and Multidimensional Approaches: A Review.

In recent decades, aerogels have attracted tremendous attention in academia and industry as a class of lightweight and porous multifunctional nanomaterial. Despite their wide application range, the low mechanical durability hinders their processing and handling, particularly in applications requiring complex physical structures. "Mechanically strengthened aerogels" have emerged as a potential solution to address this drawback. Since the first report on aerogels in 1931, various modified synthesis processes have been introduced in the last few decades to enhance the aerogel mechanical strength, further advancing their multifunctional scope. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art developments of mechanically strengthened aerogels through multicompositional and multidimensional approaches. Furthermore, new trends and future directions for as prevailed commercialization of aerogels as plastic materials are discussed.

One-Pot Sol-Gel Synthesis of Highly Insulative Hybrid P(AAm-CO-AAc)-Silica Aerogels with Improved Mechanical and Thermal Properties.

Silica aerogels and their derivatives have outstanding thermal properties with exceptional values in the thermal insulation industry. However, their brittle nature restricts their large-scale commercialization. Thus, enhancing their mechanical strength without affecting their thermal insulating properties is essential. Therefore, for the first time, highly thermally stable poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) partial sodium salt is used as a reinforcing polymer to synthesize hybrid P(AAm-CO-AAc)-silica aerogels via epoxy ring-opening polymerization in the present study. Functional groups in P(AAm-CO-AAc) partial sodium salts, such as CONH2 and COOH, acted as nucleophiles for the epoxy ring-opening reaction with (3-glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane, which resulted in a seven-fold enhancement in mechanical strength compared to that of pristine silica aerogel while maintaining thermal conductivity at less than 30.6 mW/mK and porosity of more than 93.68%. Moreover, the hybrid P(AAm-CO-AAc)-silica aerogel demonstrated improved thermal stability up to 343 °C, owing to the synergetic effect between the P(AAm-CO-AAc) and the silica aerogel, corresponding to the thermal stability and strong covalent bonding among them. These excellent results illustrate that this new synthetic approach for producing hybrid P(AAm-CO-AAc)-silica aerogels is useful for enhancing the mechanical strength of pristine silica aerogel without impairing its thermal insulating property and shows potential as an industrial heat insulation material.

Bioderived Mesoporous Carbon@Tungsten Oxide Nanocomposite as a Drug Carrier Vehicle of Doxorubicin for Potent Cancer Therapy.

Scientists have investigated the possibility of employing nanomaterials as drug carriers. These nanomaterials can preserve their content and transport it to the target region in the body. In this investigation, we proposed a simple method for developing distinctive, bioderived nanostructures with mesoporous carbon nanoparticles impregnated with tungsten oxide (WO3). Prior to characterizing and encapsulating WO3 with bioderived mesoporous carbon, the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) was added to the nanoparticles and examined loading and release study. The approaches for both nanoparticle production and characterization are discussed in detail. Colloidal qualities of the nanomaterial can be effectively preserved while also allowing transdermal transportation of nanoparticles into the body by forming them into green, reusable, and porous nanostructures. Although the theories of nanoparticles and bioderived carbon each have been studied separately, the combination presents a new route to applications connected to nanomedicine. Furthermore, this sample was used to study exotic biomedical applications, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer activities. The W-3 sample had lower antioxidant activity (44.01%) than the C@W sample (56.34%), which was the most potent. A high DOX entrapment effectiveness of 97% was eventually achieved by the C@W sample, compared to a pure WO3 entrapment efficiency of 91%. It was observed that the Carbon/WO3 composite (C@W) sample showed more efficacy because the mesoporous carbon composition with WO3 increases the average surface area and surface-active locations.

Zinc-aluminum layered double hydroxide and double oxide for room-temperature oxidation of sulfur dioxide gas.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas at trace levels challenges the consumption of fuel gases and cleaning of flue gases originating from diverse anthropogenic sources. We have demonstrated Zn-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) and layered double oxide (LDO) as low-cost and effective adsorbents in removing lowly concentrated SO2 gas at room temperature. Water in the adsorbent bed significantly improved the performance, where the maximum adsorption capacity of 38.0 mg g-1 was achieved for LDO. Based on the spectroscopic findings, the adsorbed gas molecules were oxidized to surface-bound sulfate/bisulfate species, showing complete mineralization of SO2 molecules. By employing an inexpensive NaOH-H2O2 solution-based regeneration strategy, we successfully regenerated the spent LDO, significantly restoring its gas uptake capacity. The regenerated oxide exhibited an increased gas uptake capacity ranging from 38.0 to 98.5 mg g-1, highlighting the practicality and economic feasibility of our approach. LDH/LDO materials are promising regenerable adsorbents for removing low concentrations of SO2 gas in ambient conditions.

Mercury remediation from wastewater through its spontaneous adsorption on non-functionalized inverse spinel magnetic ferrite nanoparticles.

In this study, inverse spinel cubic ferrites MFe2O4 (M = Fe2+, and Co2+) have been fabricated for the high-capacity adsorptive removal of Hg(II) ions. The PXRD analysis confirmed ferrites with the presence of residual NaCl. The surface area of Fe3O4 (Fe-F) and CoFe2O4 (Co-F) material was 69.1 and 45.2 m2 g-1, respectively. The Co-F and Fe-F showed the maximum Hg(II) adsorption capacity of 459 and 436 mg g-1 at pH 6. The kinetic and isotherms models suggested a spontaneous adsorption process involving chemical forces over the ferrite adsorbents. The Hg(II) adsorption process, probed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), confirmed the interaction of Hg(II) ions with the surface hydroxyl groups via a complexation mechanism instead of proton exchange at pH 6 with the involvement of chloride ions. Thus, this study demonstrates a viable and cost-effective solution for the efficient remediation of Hg ions from wastewater using non-functionalized ferrite adsorbents. This study also systematically investigates the kinetics and isotherm mechanism of Hg(II) adsorption onto ferrites and reports one of the highest Hg(II) adsorption capacities among other ferrite-based adsorbents.