All aqueous multiphase systems have attracted significant attention recently, in particular water-in-water Pickering emulsions. In here, polydopamine nanoparticles (PDP) are investigated as stabilizers for dextran and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based aqueous emulsions. Remarkably, stable emulsions are obtained from the all-biocompatible materials that can be broken either via dilution or surfactant addition. Further cross-linking of PDP via poly(acrylic acid) and carbodiimide strengthens the stability of emulsion droplets in a colloidosome-like structure. After cross-linking, demulsification via dilution or surfactant addition was largely hindered. The PDP-mediated formation of all aqueous emulsions is expected to be generalized to different types of water-in-water emulsions with other polymers and offers new opportunities in surface modification as well as microencapsulation.
Ion transport under nanoconfined spaces is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature and plays an important role in the energy conversion and signal transduction processes of both biological and artificial systems. Unlike the free diffusion in continuum media, anomalous behaviors of ions are often observed in nanostructured systems, which is governed by the complex interplay between various interfacial interactions. Conventionally, nanoionics mainly refers to the study of ion transport in solid‐state nanosystems. In this review, to extent this concept is proposed and a new framework to understand the phenomena, mechanism, methodology, and application associated with ion transport at the nanoscale is put forward. Specifically, here nanoionics is summarized into three categories, i.e., biological, artificial, and hybrid, and discussed the characteristics of each system. Compared with nanoelectronics, nanoionics is an emerging research field with many theoretical and practical challenges. With this forward‐looking perspective, it is hoped that nanoionics can attract increasing attention and find wide range of applications as nanoelectronics.
Herein, the convenient visible light-induced photografting of hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate onto graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) is described, leading to well-dispersible g-CN-based precursor polymers that can be injected. Mixing with citric acid as the cross-linker and heating leads to stable thermoset coatings. The process is versatile and easy to perform, leading to g-CN-based coatings. Moreover, the coating can be further functionalized/modified via grafting of other polymer chains, and the resulting structure is useful as photocatalytic surface or as photoelectrode.
Sunlight is widely used by plants to produce chemical energy fundamental for all life, a process that also serves as an inspiration for science. Recently, light-harvesting semiconductor materials, here, carbon nitrides, have been widely used in photochemistry to catalyze reactions under visible light illumination. We exploited photoactive carbon nitride thin films as a metal-free platform for one-step photografting from polymers on the surface. Here, we observe photoswitchable wetting properties of polystyrene-grafted carbon nitride, which are independent of any classical photoswitchable groups. Dense and thick polymer brush formation with a tunable thickness (up to 700 nm) was obtained, allowing for tailor surface properties. Furthermore, exploiting the reciprocal insolubility of water− dimethylacrylamide and pentane−styrene solutions, we provide a general method for the synthesis of centimeter-scale carbon nitride-based Janus asymmetric films. It is thought that the simple experimental design based on cheap and common chemicals provides a novel dimension of carbon nitride materials with advanced surface properties.
Macromolecular crowding plays a critical role in the kinetics of enzymatic reactions. Dynamic compartmentalization of biological components in living cells due to liquid−liquid phase separation represents an important cell regulatory mechanism that can increase enzyme concentration locally and influence the diffusion of substrates. In the present study, we probed partitioning of two enzymes (horseradish-peroxidase and urate-oxidase) in a poly(ethylene glycol)−dextran aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) as a function of salt concentration and ion position in the Hofmeister series. Moreover, we investigated enzymatic cascade reactions and their kinetics within the ATPS, which revealed a strong influence of the ion hydration stemming from the background electrolyte on the partitioning coefficients of proteins following the Hofmeister series. As a result, we were able to realize cross-partitioning of two enzymes because of different protein net charges at a chosen pH. Our study reveals a strong dependency of the enzyme activity on the substrate type and crowding agent interaction on the final kinetics of enzymatic reactions in the ATPS and therefore provides substantial implications en route toward dynamic regulation of reactivity in synthetic protocells.
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