Simultaneous photothermal and photocatalytic MOF- derived C/TiO2 composites for high-efficiency solar driven purification of sewage.

Solar-driven water evaporation is a promising technology of freshwater production to address the water scarcity. However, the photothermal material and the distilled water would be contaminated in the evaporation of wastewater including organic pollutants. In this work, MOF-derived C/TiO2 composites (carbonized UiO-66-NH2 (Ti)) with simultaneous photothermal and photocatalytic functions are designed for producing freshwater from sewage. With advantageous features of porous structure with large specific area, excellent sunlight absorption and super-hydrophilicity, the carbonized UiO-66-NH2 (Ti) layer exhibits high water evaporation efficiency of 94% under 1.0 sun irradiation. Meanwhile, the layer can simultaneously decompose the organic pollutants with degradation efficiency of 92.7% in the underlying water during solar-driven water evaporation. This bifunctional material will provide a new approach for solar-driven water evaporation and photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant synergistically.

Correction to "Facile Synthesis of Vertically Arranged CNTs for Efficient Solar-Driven Interfacial Water Evaporation".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c06706.].

Facile Synthesis of Vertically Arranged CNTs for Efficient Solar-Driven Interfacial Water Evaporation.

Solar-driven evaporation of water is a sustainable and promising technology for addressing the crisis of clean water. Herein, novel vertically arranged carbon nanotube (V-CNT) aerogels with a tree branch structure is facilely synthesized through an ice templating method. The V-CNT-based photothermal evaporator exhibits efficient broadband light trapping and super-hydrophilicity. Owing to the unique structure and ultrafast water transportation, a high evaporation rate of 3.26 kg m-2 h-1 was achieved by the three-dimensional V-CNT-based evaporator under a solar illumination of 1 kW m-2. More significantly, the V-CNT shows excellent recycling stability and salt-resistant performance in seawater and may provide a novel strategy to the practical sustainable technique of water purification applications.

Interface crosslinked mPEG-b-PAGE-b-PCL triblock copolymer micelles with high stability for anticancer drug delivery.

The stability of polymeric micelles is a key property for anticancer drug delivery. In this study, a novel amphiphilic triblock copolymer, methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(allyl glycidyl ether)-b-poly(ε-caprolactone) (mPEG-b-PAGE-b-PCL), with different hydrophobic lengths was designed and synthesized using the combination of two successive ring-opening polymerizations. The products were characterized using 1H NMR and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The triblock copolymers could self-assemble into micelles to encapsulate doxorubicin (DOX). The diameter of the DOX-loaded micelles increased from 63 to 92 nm with increasing PCL block length in the copolymer composition. The interface of the mPEG-b-PAGE-b-PCL micelles was crosslinked by a thiol-ene reaction with 1,4-butanedithiol. The stability, drug release and in vitro cytotoxicity of the DOX-loaded micelles were studied. The results showed that the DOX-loaded micelles could be effectively endocytosed by cancer cells and have good antitumor efficacy. In addition, the crosslinked micelles (CLMs) had better tumor accumulation than the noncrosslinked micelles (NCLMs) after intravenous injection using the lipophilic dye DiR.

Preparation of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)-Based Composite Membranes Using Carboxyl-Type Boronic Acid Copolymers for Alkaline Diffusion Dialysis.

Carboxyl-type boronic acid copolymers (CBACs) were synthesized by a radical polymerization method and used for the preparation of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based composite membranes via a solution mixture method. The as-prepared composite membranes exhibited a water uptake (WR) of 122.6-150.0%, an ion exchange capacity (IEC) of 0.0147-0.0518 mmol g-1, and excellent mechanical (elongation at break (Eb) of 103.8-148.4%, tensile strength (TS) of 38.7-58.6 MPa) and thermal stability. The alkali resistances of the as-prepared membranes were tested by immersing the samples into 2 mol L-1 NaOH solutions at 25 °C for 60 h, and the results were encouraging: the mass loss and swelling degree of the as-prepared membranes were in the ranges of 1.9-5.9% and 222.6-241.9%, respectively. The separation performances of the as-prepared membranes were evaluated by the diffusion dialysis (DD) process with an NaOH/Na2WO4 mixture at room temperature. The results demonstrated that the dialysis coefficients of hydroxide (UOH) were in the range of 0.0147-0.0347 m h-1, and the separation factors (S) were in the range of 29.5-62.6. The introduced carboxyl groups from CBACs and the -OH groups from PVA were both deemed to play significant roles in the promotion of ion transport: the -COO- groups formed negatively charged transport channels for Na+ by electrostatic attraction, and the -OH groups promoted the transport of OH- via hydrogen bonding.

Preparation of the Yellow-Colored Aluminum Pigments with Double-Layer Structure Using a Crosslinked Copolymeric Dye.

Colorization for fabricating aluminum pigments has broad application prospects in recent years. In this study, yellow-colored aluminum pigments with the double-layer structure Al@SiO2@PFMV were prepared using a sol-gel method. A crosslinked copolymeric dye (PFMV) was firstly synthesized by radical polymerization using vinyl triethoxysilane (VTES) and a small molecular dye (FGMAC) as monomers. Then, colored aluminum pigments were prepared by hydrolysis and condensation of the copolymers on the surface of aluminum pigments. SEM, AFM, FTIR, and XPS were used to characterize the surface morphology and chemical structure of the colored aluminum pigments. It was found that the colored aluminum pigments have a heterogeneous and smooth surface layer. The anticorrosion results showed that the colored aluminum pigments had better chemical stability with significantly improving corrosion resistance compared to raw aluminum pigments and Al@SiO2 with the single-layer coating. Chromatism analysis indicated that the lightness of Al@SiO2@PFMV pigments decreased slightly and the color changed from silver-gray to yellow.