Hydroxyl-Decorated Carbon Cloth with High Potassium Affinity Enables Stable Potassium Metal Anodes.

Highly anticipated potassium metal batteries possess abundant potassium reserves and high theoretical capacity but currently suffer from poor cycling stability as a result of dendritic growth and volume expansion. Here, carbon cloths modified with different functional groups treated with ethylene glycol, ethanolamine, and ethylenediamine are designed as 3D hosts, exhibiting different wettability to molten potassium. Among them, the hydroxyl-decorated carbon cloth with a high affinity for potassium can achieve molten potassium perfusion (K@EG-CC) within 3 s. By efficiently inducing the uniform deposition of metal potassium, buffing its volume expansion, and lowering local current density, the developed K@EG-CC anode alleviates the dendrite growth issue. The K@EG-CC||K@EG-CC symmetric battery can be cycled stably for 2100 h and has only a small voltage hysteresis of ≈93 mV at 0.5 mA cm-2 . Moreover, the high-voltage plateau, high energy density, and long cycle life of K metal full batteries can be realized with a low-cost KFeSO4 F@carbon nanotube cathode. This study provides a simple strategy to promote the commercial applications of potassium metal batteries.

Riboflavin-loaded carbon cloth aids the anaerobic digestion of cow dung by promoting direct interspecies electron transfer.

Cow dung generates globally due to increased beef and milk consumption, but its treatment efficiency remains low. Previous studies have shown that riboflavin-loaded conductive materials can improve anaerobic digestion through enhance direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET). However, its effect on the practical anaerobic digestion of cow dung remained unclear. In this study, carbon cloth loaded with riboflavin (carbon cloth-riboflavin) was added into an anaerobic digester treating cow dung. The carbon cloth-riboflavin reactor showed a better performance than other two reactors. The metagenomic analysis revealed that Methanothrix on the surface of the carbon cloth predominantly utilized the CO2 reduction for methane production, further enhanced after riboflavin addition, while Methanothrix in bulk sludge were using the acetate decarboxylation pathway. Furthermore, the carbon cloth-riboflavin enriched various major methanogenic pathways and activated a large number of enzymes associated with DIET. Riboflavin's presence altered the microbial communities and the abundance of functional genes relate to DIET, ultimately leading to a better performance of anaerobic digestion for cow dung.

Rationally construction of 2D & 3D material on h-BN @ SnO2/TiO2 micro-sphere enables for photocatalytic debasement of textile cloth dyes in waste water treatment.

Affordable and swiftly available h-BN@SnO2/TiO2 photocatalysts are being developed through an easy hydrothermally approach was used urea as boric acid precursors. With their constructed photo catalysts, the effect of h-BN@SnO2/TiO2 has been investigated under the assessment of Adsorption agents utilizing X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive spectroscopic analysis (SEM/EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and Burner Emit Teller (BET) isotherm testing methods, which also indicated that SnO2/TiO2 and h-BN have been tightly bound together. Because turquoise blue (TB) and Methyl orange (MO) fabric dyes can be found in the industrial wastewater being processed, the photo catalytic degradation process happens to be applied. According to the advantageous linkages of h-BN@SnO2/TiO2 photocatalysts, fantastic efficacy in breakdown towards hazardous compounds has been found. For the decomposition of Turquoise blue (TB) and Methyl orange (MO), the h-BN@SnO2/TiO2 catalysts proved the best performance stability (0.0386 min-1 and 1.524min-1) but were significantly 22 times quicker. Optical catalysis has additionally demonstrated extraordinary resilience and durability throughout five reprocessed efforts. On top of that, an approach enabling photocatalytic breakdown of harmful substances upon h-BN@SnO2/TiO2 has been presented.

Effect of black cloth ointment on hypertrophic scar formation: An investigation using integrated network pharmacology and animal assay.

BACKGROUND: Hypertrophic scars (HS) are a common disfiguring condition in daily clinical encounters which brings a lot of anxieties and concerns to patients, but the treatment options of HS are limited. Black cloth ointment (BCO), as a cosmetic ointment applicable to facial scars, has shown promising therapeutic effects for facial scarring. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effects remain unclear. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Network pharmacology was first applied to analyze the major active components of BCO and the related signaling pathways. Subsequently, rabbit ear scar model was successfully established to determine the pharmacological effects of BCO and its active component ß-elemene on HS. Finally, the molecular mechanism of BCO and ß-elemene was analyzed by Western blot. RESULTS: Through the network pharmacology, it showed that ß-elemene was the main active ingredient of BCO, and it could significantly improve the pathological structure of HS and reduce collagen deposition. BCO and ß-elemene could increase the expression of ER stress-related markers and promote the increase of apoptotic proteins in the Western blot experiment and induce the apoptosis of myofibroblasts. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the material basis for the scar-improving effects of the BCO is ß-elemene, and cellular apoptosis is the key mechanism through which the BCO and ß-elemene exert their effects.

Clothing color effect as a target of the smallest scale climate change adaptation.

The purpose of this study is to understand a physical mechanism to determine the surface temperature of clothes in calm and fine conditions of outdoors. We observed surface temperatures of polo shirts of the same material and design but different colors. The shirts were placed in unshaded and well-ventilated outdoor, open spaces on sunny summer days. The maximum difference between dark green or black and white was more than 15 °C during calm, fine weather and was greatest when the solar radiation was strong. If the transmission of solar radiation energy through a shirt is ignored to calculate the absorption by the shirt, the difference in solar radiation absorption due to different colors is as much as 24% in the maximum, and if considered, we concluded that an absorption difference of 34% led to a temperature difference of 15℃. When we compared the brightness of the colors, we found that the albedo of both the visible and NIR bands explained why the red and green colors were so different with respect to the surface temperatures we observed. The reflection in the NIR bands was also an important determinant of the surface temperature. An additional experiment using masks showed that the temperature difference between white and black was almost eliminated at a wind speed of ~ 3 m/s. The color of clothing is therefore a target for small-scale adaptation to climate change.

Microscopy of Woven and Nonwoven Face Covering Materials: Implications for Particle Filtration.

A suite of natural, synthetic, and mixed synthetic-natural woven fabrics, along with nonwoven filtration layers from a surgical mask and an N95 respirator, was examined using visible light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and micro-X-ray computed tomography (µXCT) to determine the fiber diameter distribution, fabric thickness, and the volume of solid space of the fabrics. Nonwoven materials exhibit a positively skewed distribution of fiber diameters with a mean value of ≈3 µm, whereas woven fabrics exhibit a normal distribution of diameters with mean values roughly five times larger (>15 µm). The mean thickness of the N95 filtration material is 1093 µm and is greater than that of the woven fabrics that span from 420 to 650 µm. A new procedure for measuring the thickness of flannel fabrics is proposed that accounts for raised fibers. µXCT allowed for a quantitative nondestructive approach to measure fabric porosity as well as the surface area/volume. Cotton flannel showed the largest mean isotropy of any fabric, though fiber order within the weave is poorly represented in the surface electron images. Surface fabric isotropy and surface area/volume ratios are proposed as useful microstructural quantities to consider for future particle filtration modeling efforts of woven materials.

CuCo2O4 nanoneedle arrays growth on carbon cloth as a non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor with low detection limit ketoprofen recognition.

An electrochemical sensor for detecting ketoprofen was constructed by in-situ grown copper cobaltate (CuCo2O4) nanoneedle arrays on a carbon cloth (CC) substrate. The resulting porous nanoneedle arrays not only expose numerous electrochemically active sites but also significantly enhance the electrochemical apparent active area and current transmission efficiency. By leveraging its electrochemical properties, the sensor achieves an impressive detection limit for ketoprofen of 0.7 pM, with a linear range spanning from 2 pM ~ 2 µM. Furthermore, the sensor exhibits remarkable reproducibility, anti-interference capabilities, and stability. Notably, the developed sensor also performed ketoprofen detection on real samples (including drug formulations and wastewater) and demonstrated excellent recognition ability. These exceptional performances can be attributed to the direct growth of CuCo2O4 nanoneedle arrays on the CC substrate, which facilitates a robust electrical connection, provides abundant electrocatalytic active sites, and expands the apparent active area. Consequently, these improvements contribute to the efficient trace detection capabilities of the ketoprofen sensor.

Evaluation of electrode separators and the external resistance in electrochemically assisted constructed wetlands.

A proton exchange membrane increases the electrical performance of a microbial fuel cell (MFC). New inexpensive materials should be sought, especially in a constructed wetland microbial fuel cell (CW-MFC). Here, in a laboratory-scale system of five CW-MFCs, wet clay, wet earth or mud, and non-woven cloth were used as inexpensive separators with long-term stability. The five CW-MFCs were planted with Typha latifolia, fed with synthetic wastewater, and packed with natural porous material. Graphite felt was used as electrodes and the experimental system had a hydraulic residence time of 3 days, operating under shade and natural conditions of temperature and light. Electrodes were connected to current collectors (copper wire) and to an external resistance, with a change every 20 days, starting in open-circuit and following with 20000, 18000, 15000, 10000, 5600, 1000, 560, and 10 Ω. These laboratory-scale CW-MFCs reduced concentrations of nitrates, ammonium ion, and sulfates without inhibiting electricity production. Microbiological analyses indicated that anaerobic, facultative, aerobic, and denitrifying bacteria may have caused these reductions. The reactor with the live plant and with the wet earth or mud separator achieved the highest production of electricity (22.6 mW/m2), and may be worth further attention.

Activated carbon cloth versus silver-based dressings in a population with diabetic foot ulcer: a randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Activated carbon cloth (ACC), known as Zorflex dressing, has emerged as an innovative approach in managing bacterial infection in diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) treatment. This pilot study was undertaken to determine the efficacy of Zorflex ACC dressing (Chemviron Carbon Cloth Division, UK) compared to standard silver-based dressing on DFUs. METHOD: An open label, comparative, randomised controlled trial enrolling patients who attended the diabetic foot clinic was conducted between August 2022 and August 2023. The primary endpoint was a difference of 20% in wound area reduction with the ACC dressing compared to silver-based dressing within eight weeks. The secondary endpoints were proportion of complete healing, time to healing and adverse events. RESULTS: The cohort comprised 40 patients. The mean wound reduction percentage at 8 weeks for patients in the ACC arm was 85.40±16.00% compared with 65.08±16.36% in the silver-based dressing arm. Complete healing was observed in six of 20 patients in the ACC arm compared to two of 20 in the silver-based dressing arm. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that the ACC dressing promotes better ulcer healing in DFU patients than the silver-based dressing.

Video Classification of Cloth Simulations: Deep Learning and Position-Based Dynamics for Stiffness Prediction.

In virtual reality, augmented reality, or animation, the goal is to represent the movement of deformable objects in the real world as similar as possible in the virtual world. Therefore, this paper proposed a method to automatically extract cloth stiffness values from video scenes, and then they are applied as material properties for virtual cloth simulation. We propose the use of deep learning (DL) models to tackle this issue. The Transformer model, in combination with pre-trained architectures like DenseNet121, ResNet50, VGG16, and VGG19, stands as a leading choice for video classification tasks. Position-Based Dynamics (PBD) is a computational framework widely used in computer graphics and physics-based simulations for deformable entities, notably cloth. It provides an inherently stable and efficient way to replicate complex dynamic behaviors, such as folding, stretching, and collision interactions. Our proposed model characterizes virtual cloth based on softness-to-stiffness labels and accurately categorizes videos using this labeling. The cloth movement dataset utilized in this research is derived from a meticulously designed stiffness-oriented cloth simulation. Our experimental assessment encompasses an extensive dataset of 3840 videos, contributing to a multi-label video classification dataset. Our results demonstrate that our proposed model achieves an impressive average accuracy of 99.50%. These accuracies significantly outperform alternative models such as RNN, GRU, LSTM, and Transformer.

Uncharged Monolithic Carbon Fibers Are More Sensitive to Cross-Junction Compression than Charged.

Textile-based wearable robotics increasingly integrates sensing and energy materials to enhance functionality, particularly in physiological monitoring, demanding higher-performing and abundant robotic textiles. Among the alternatives, activated carbon cloth stands out due to its monolithic nature and high specific surface area, enabling uninterrupted electron transfer and energy storage capability in the electrical double layer, respectively. Yet, the potential of monolithic activated carbon cloth electrodes (MACCEs) in wearables still needs to be explored, particularly in sensing and energy storage. MACCE conductance increased by 29% when saturated with Na2SO4 aqueous electrolyte and charged from 0 to 0.375 V. MACCE was validated for measuring pressure up to 28 kPa at all assessed charge levels. Electrode sensitivity to compression decreased by 30% at the highest potential due to repulsive forces between like charges in electrical double layers at the MACCE surface, counteracting compression. MACCE's controllable sensitivity decrease can be beneficial for garments in avoiding irrelevant signals and focusing on essential health changes. A MACCE charge-dependent sensitivity provides a method for assessing local electrode charge. Our study highlights controlled charging and electrolyte interactions in MACCE for multifunctional roles, including energy transmission and pressure detection, in smart wearables.

Highly efficient heterogeneous electro-Fenton reaction for tetracycline degradation by Fe-Ni LDH@ZIF-67 modified carbon cloth cathode: Mechanism and toxicity assessment.

In this work, a novel and efficient Fe-Ni LDH@ZIF-67 catalyst modified carbon cloth (CC) cathode was developed for tetracycline (TC) degradation in heterogeneous electro-Fenton (Hetero-EF) process. Compared to Fe-Ni LDH/CC (75.7%), TC degradation rate of Fe-Ni LDH@ZIF-67/CC cathode increased to 95.6% within 60 min. The synergistic effect of hetero-EF and anodic oxidation process accelerated electron transfer, the maximum H2O2 production of Fe-Ni LDH@ZIF-67/CC electrode reached 264 mg/L, improving utilization efficiency of H2O2. The cathode possessing a satisfied TC degradation performance over a wide pH (3-9). Free radical capture experiment revealed the collaboration of ·O2-, ·OH, and 1O2 play a significant role in TC degradation. The 5 cycles experiment and metal ion leaching experiment showed that the proposed Fe-Ni LDH@ZIF-67/CC has good recyclability and stability. In addition, the proposed Fe-Ni LDH@ZIF-67/CC cathode achieved satisfying performance in real water (tap water: 97.3%, lake water: 97.7%), demonstrating the possibility for practical application. TC degradation pathways were proposed by theory analysis and experimental results. The toxicity of TC intermediates was reduced by Hetero-EF degradation according to Toxicity Estimation Software Tool and Escherichia coli growth inhibition experiments. This work provides a novel modified cathode to improve removal efficiency of antibiotics in wastewater.

Flexible Asymmetric Supercapacitors Constructed by Reduced Graphene Oxide/MoO3 and MnO2 Electrochemically Deposited on Carbon Cloth.

A flexible asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) is successfully developed by using the composite of MoO3 and graphene oxide (GO) electrochemically deposited on carbon cloth (CC) (MoO3/rGO/CC) as the cathode, the MnO2 deposited on CC (MnO2/CC) as the anode, and Na2SO4/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the gel electrolyte. The results show that the introduction of the GO layer can remarkably increase the specific capacitance of MoO3 from 282.7 F g-1 to 341.0 F g-1. Furthermore, the combination of such good electrode materials and a neutral gel electrolyte renders the fabrication of high-performance ASC with a large operating potential difference of 1.6 V in a 0.5 mol L-1 Na2SO4 solution of water. Furthermore, the ASCs exhibit excellent cycle ability and the capacitance can maintain 87% of its initial value after 6000 cycles. The fact that a light-emitting diode can be lit up by the ASCs indicates the device's potential applications as an energy storage device. The encouraging results demonstrate a promising application of the composite of MoO3 and GO in energy storage devices.

Electrostatic Self-Assembly of MXene on Ruthenium Dioxide-Modified Carbon Cloth for Electrochemical Detection of Kaempferol.

A superior composite material consisting of MXene and ruthenium dioxide-modified carbon cloth is synthesized by pulsed laser deposition and electrostatic self-assembly, which is further utilized to construct a class of novel electrochemical (EC) sensors for kaempferol (KA) detection. The carbon-cloth-based electrodes modified by ruthenium dioxide and then MXene are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The EC process on the modified electrodes is analyzed by cyclic voltammetry, EC impedance spectroscopy, and differential pulse voltammetry. It is found that positively charged RuO2 not only possesses the remarkable electrical conductivity and electrocatalysis activity but also hampers the restacking of MXene, which accordingly enhances the exposure of the active surface area and greatly boosts the electrocatalysis activity of the entire composite. Consequently, this newly developed composite-based EC sensor exhibits a high sensitivity, selectivity, and remarkable stability to detect KA with two linear ranges of 0.06-1 and 1-15 µM. The inferred limit of detection is 0.039 µM via differential pulse voltammetry. More importantly, this novel EC sensor is found to be applicable for detecting KA in practical traditional Chinese medicines.

Flexible All-Solid-State Direct Methanol Fuel Cells with High Specific Power Density.

It is vital to create flexible batteries as power sources to suit the needs of flexible electronic devices because they are widely employed in wearable and portable electronics. The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is a desirable alternative portable energy source since it is a clean, safe, and high energy density cell. The traditional DMFC in mechanical assembly and its unbending property, however, prevent it from being employed in flexible electrical devices. In this study, the flexible membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with superior electrical conductivity and nanoscale TiC-modified carbon cloth (TiC/CC) is used as supporting layer. Additionally, solid methanol fuels used in the manufacturing of flexible all-solid-state DMFC have the advantages of being tiny, light, and having high energy density. Furthermore, the DMFC's placement and bending angle have little effect on its performance, suggesting that DMFC is appropriate for flexible portable energy. The flexible all-solid-state DMFC's power density can reach 14.06 mW cm-2 , and after 50 bends at 60°, its voltage loss can be disregarded. The flexible all-solid DMFC has an energy density that is 777.78 Wh Kg-1 higher than flexible lithium-ion batteries, which is advantageous for the commercialization of flexible electronic products.

Bimetallic Organic Framework-Decorated Leaf-like 2D Nanosheets as Flexible Air Cathode for Rechargeable Zn-air Batteries.

Exploring highly active and robust self-supporting air electrodes is the key for flexible Zn-air batteries (FZABs). Therefore, we report a novel 3D structural bimetal-based self-supporting electrode consisting of hybrid Cu, Co nanoparticles co-modified nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets on carbon cloth (Cu, Co NPs@NCNSs/CC), which displays excellent electrochemical activity and durability of the oxygen reduction/evolution reaction (ORR/OER). The Cu, Co NPs@NCNSs/CC exhibits a half-wave potential of 0.863 V toward ORR and an overpotential of 225 mV at 10 mA cm-2 toward OER, owing to its exposed bimetallic sites accelerating the kinetic reaction. In addition, the density functional theory calculation proves that the synergistic effect of CuCo sites favors ORR and OER. Hence, the FZABs based on Cu, Co NPs@NCNSs/CC achieve a larger open-circuit potential (1.45 V), higher energy density (130.10 mW cm-2 ), and outstanding cycling stability. All remarkable results demonstrate valuable enlightenment for seeking advanced energy materials of portable and wearable electronics.

ZnO nanorods anchored on CNTs incorporating carbon cloth flexible electrode as a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor.

Monitoring glucose, uric acid (UA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration has emerged as a critical health care issue to prevent acute complications and to minimize the hazard of long-term complications. In this paper, a novel non-enzyme electrochemical sensor was proposed with nanorod-like zinc oxide anchored on carbon nanotubes using a direct precipitation method and then decorated onto carbon cloth (ZnO/CNTs/CC). The ZnO/CNTs composite was characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectrum, TEM microscope and electrochemistry. The sensing of UA, glucose and H2O2individually or simultaneously was done on a ZnO/CNTs/CC electrode, and the superior performance lies in its wide linear range, low detection limit and high selectivity, which is attributed to the synergistic effect of (a) the good electrocatalytic activity of ZnO nanorods, and (b) the large surface area with high conductivity offered by CNTs. Moreover, the ZnO/CNTs/CC electrode showed good reproducibility, stability and selectivity. Importantly, the developed sensor platform has been successfully applied to probe glucose, UA and H2O2in human serum with satisfactory recoveries. Our proposed approach is simple in fabrication and operation, which provides a straightforward assay for the reliable and cost-effective determination of glucose, UA and H2O2in clinical diagnosis and biomedical applications.

Facile filter cloth brush-coating of large-area uniform silver nanowire conductive films for paper-based heater.

Filter cloth brush-coating (FCBC), using soft filter cloth as a brush-coating medium, in conjunction with viscous silver nanowire (AgNW) conductive solution, is used to prepare AgNW conductive films. The density and uniformity of AgNWs deposited on the substrate are controlled by the interplay between the filter cloth aperture, the conductive solution viscosity, and the brush-coating speed. Further, with appropriate AgNW concentration and flow rate, uniform AgNW transparent conductive film with sheet resistance of 18 Ω sq-1and transmittance of 94% at 550 nm is acquired by FCBC. Due to the precise control of the coating process in FCBC, large-area uniform AgNW conductive film fabricated on printing paper has a low non-uniformity factor of 1.2% at a sheet resistance of 19.0 Ω sq-1. The resultant paper-based AgNW film heater shows sensitive and stable heating performance. FCBC shows great potential in producing large-area uniform AgNW films on various substrates.

Electric-Inducive Microbial Interactions in a Thermophilic Anaerobic Digester Revealed by High-Throughput Sequencing of Micron-Scale Single Flocs.

Although conductive materials have been shown to improve efficiency in anaerobic digestion (AD) by modifying microbial interactions, the interacting network under thermophilic conditions has not been examined. To identify the true taxon-taxon associations within thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD) microbiome and reveal the influence of carbon cloth (CC) addition, we sampled micron-scale single flocs (40-70 µm) randomly isolated from lab-scale thermophilic digesters. Results revealed that CC addition not only significantly boosted methane yield by 25.3% but also increased the spatial heterogeneity of the community in the sludge medium. After CC addition, an evident translocation of Pseudomonas from the medium to the biofilm was observed, showing their remarkable capacity for biofilm formation. Additionally, Clostridium and Thermotogaceae tightly aggregated and steadily co-occurred in the medium and biofilm of the TAD microbiome, which might be associated with their unique extracellular sugar metabolizing style. Finally, CC induced syntrophic interaction between Syntrophomonas and denitrifiers of Rhodocyclaceae. The upregulated respiration-associated electron transferring genes (Cyst-c, complex III) on the cellular membranes of these collaborating partners indicated a potential coupling of the denitrification pathway with syntrophic acetate oxidation via direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET). These findings provide an insight into how conductive materials promote thermophilic digestion performance and open the path for improved community monitoring of biotreatment systems.

Development of cloth-based microfluidic devices for rapid determination of histamine in fish and fishery products.

A cloth-based analytical device combined with electrochemiluminescence detection (CAD-ECL) was described for rapid determination  of histamine (HA). The CAD device was produced by screen-printing a conductive carbon ink onto a patterned hydrophobic electrochemical microfluidic chamber to fabricate the three-carbon electrode system on a single hydrophilic cloth. The introduction of carbon nanodots linked to chitosan on the working carbon electrode surface enhanced the catalytic performance and overcame the resistance of the cotton fiber material. On this basis, the enhancement of the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) signal of the tris(2,2'-bipyridyl) ruthenium(II) complex, caused by HA, was observed in a phosphate buffer solution at pH 7.6. The proposed CAD-ECL sensor was successfully applied to the quantification of HA in fish and fishery samples with good linearity between ECL intensity and the logarithm of HA concentration in the range 1.0 to 1000.0 µg L-1 with a low detection limit of 0.82 µg L-1.