Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MCM-41) with different surface chemistry were used as carrier system to study its influence on drug delivery and anticancer activity of curcumin (CUR). CUR was encapsulated in pristine MCM-41 (hydrophilic and negatively charged), amino functionalized MCM-41 (MCM-41-NH2 which is hydrophilic and positively charged), and methyl functionalized MCM-41 (MCM-41-CH3 which is hydrophobic and negatively charged) and evaluated for in vitro release and cell cytotoxicity in human squamous cell carcinoma cell line (SCC25). Various techniques were employed to evaluate the performance of these materials on cellular uptake and anticancer activity in the SCC25 cell line. Both positively and negatively charged surfaces demonstrated enhanced drug release and anticancer activity compared to pure CUR. Positively charged nanoparticles showed higher cell uptake compared to negatively charged nanoparticles owing to its electrostatic interaction with cells. However, hydrophobic surface modified nanoparticles (MCM-41-CH3) showed no improvement in drug release and anticancer activity due to its poor wetting effect. Cell cycle analysis and cell apoptosis studies revealed different pathway mechanisms followed by the positively and negatively charged nanoparticles but exhibiting similar anticancer activity in SCC25 cells.

Nanocarbon electronic conductors combined with pseudocapacitive materials, such as conducting polymers, display outstanding electrochemical properties and mechanical flexibility. These characteristics enable the fabrication of flexible electrodes for energy‐storage devices; that is, supercapacitors that are wearable or can be formed into shapes that are easily integrated into vehicle parts. To date, most nanocarbon materials such as nanofibers are randomly dispersed as a network in a flexible matrix. This morphology inhibits ion transport, particularly under the high current density necessary for devices requiring high power density. Novel flexible densified horizontally aligned carbon nanotube arrays (HACNTs) with controlled nanomorphology for improved ion transport are introduced and combined with conformally coated poly(3‐methylthiophene) (P3MT) conducting polymer to impart pseudocapacitance. The resulting P3MT/HACNT nanocomposite electrodes exhibit high areal capacitance of 3.1 F cm−2 at 5 mA cm−2, with areal capacitance remaining at 1.8 F cm−2 even at a current density of 200 mA cm−2. The asymmetric supercapacitor cell also delivers more than 1–2 orders of magnitude improvement in both areal energy and power density over state‐of‐the‐art cells. Furthermore, little change in cell performance is observed under high strain, demonstrating the mechanical and electrochemical stability of the electrodes.

The advantaged intrinsic and scale-dependent properties of aligned nanofibers (NFs) and their assembly into 3D architectures motivates their use as dry adhesives and shape-engineerable materials. While controlling NF-substrate adhesion is...