Inspired by mussel-adhesion phenomena in nature, we present a simple, mild and green method to prepare polystyrene/Ag (PS/Ag) nanocomposite particles with enhanced antibacterial activities. In this approach, monodisperse polystyrene particles are used as template spheres, which are then coated with polydopamine (PDA) through the self-polymerization of dopamine in a weakly alkaline aqueous environment (pH ¼ 8.5). Silver precursor-[Ag(NH 3 ) 2 ] + ions are added and absorbed onto the surfaces of the PS/PDA composite spheres by the active catechol and amine groups of the polydopamine coating. Meanwhile, these adsorbed [Ag(NH 3 ) 2 ] + ions are in situ reduced into metallic silver nanoparticles by the "bridge" of the polydopamine coating, and the formed Ag nanoparticles are home positioned. As polydopamine is an environmentally friendly reagent with abilities as a universal adhesive to any surface and as a mild reductant for noble metal salts, because of its abundant active catechol and amine groups, neither additional reducing and toxic reagents nor special surface modifications of the template are needed in this procedure. Moreover, preliminary antibacterial assays indicate that these PS/Ag nanocomposite particles show enhanced antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacteria) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive bacteria), while they do not show significant in vitro cytotoxicity against HEK293T human embryonic kidney cells. These results suggest that these PS/Ag nanocomposite particles could be promising antibacterial materials for future biomedical applications.
Flexible transparent conductive films or substrates prepared from plastics or cellulose are widely used in optoelectronic devices. However, all of these films or substrates are fabricated by complex and expensive methods, which consume much energy and time. In this work, we report for the first time a remarkably facile and effective approach for fabricating flexible transparent films directly from wood. The resulting films exhibit an array of exceptional optical and mechanical properties. The well-aligned cell structures in natural wood are maintained during delignification, leading to anisotropic films with high transparency (≈90% transmittance). These anisotropic films with well-aligned cell structures show mechanical tensile strengths higher than those of the original wood, and can be used as screen protection films for cellphones. Furthermore, ultrathin, highly transparent, and outstandingly conductive films have been prepared from such films and silver nanowires (AgNWs) using the Meyer technique. A conductive film with an optimal area density (341 mg m) of AgNWs showed outstanding synergistic properties, with a transmittance of 80% and a sheet resistance of 11 Ω sq, equal to the conductivity of ITO. Of importance here is that the low-cost anisotropic transparent wood film shows promising potential for electronics applications in solar cells, flexible displays, and other products.
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