The highly reactive nature of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is the basis for widespread use in environmental and health-related fields. Conventionally, there are only two kinds of catalysts used for ROS generation: photocatalysts and piezocatalysts. However, their usage has been limited due to various environmental and physical factors. To address this problem, herein, we report thermoelectric materials, such as Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3, and PbTe, as thermocatalysts which can produce hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) under a small surrounding temperature difference. Being the most prevalent environmental factors in daily life, temperature and related thermal effects have tremendous potential for practical applications. To increase the practicality in everyday life, bismuth telluride nanoplates (Bi2Te3 NPs), serving as an efficient thermocatalyst, are coated on a carbon fiber fabric (Bi2Te3@CFF) to develop a thermocatalytic filter with antibacterial function. Temperature difference induced H2O2 generation by thermocatalysts results in the oxidative damage of bacteria, which makes thermocatalysts highly promising for disinfection applications. Antibacterial activity as high as 95% is achieved only by the treatment of low-temperature difference cycles. The current work highlights the horizon-shifting impacts of thermoelectric materials for real-time purification and antibacterial applications.

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Various strategies (single & multi-pot) to synthesize dendrimer-coated metal nanoparticles and their exploration in various biomedical applications.

An overview of enhancement strategies for highly sensitive ECL-based sensing of bioanalytes enabling early detection of cancer.

Mercury and its compounds are widely distributed in the environment and have a significant negative impact on human health. In this paper, we report the development of a rapid and facile method for the detection of mercury ions (Hg 2? ) using heteroepitaxially synthesized unmodified silver nanoparticle-based smart probes using UV-Vis spectrophotometer and also through the naked eye by means of a paper-based sensor strip. The silver nanoparticles were prepared by heteroepitaxial growth method using gold seed nanoparticle of *2.4 nm size as the template. The silver is grown on the seed particles by reducing the silver-ammonia complex using glucose, which resulted in Glu-AgNPs having an average size of 14.65 ± 3.53 nm. The sensing of mercury ions was carried out in aqueous solution and the reaction response was monitored by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The interaction of Hg 2? with Glu-AgNPs resulted in a significant drop in the absorbance at 402 nm along with a prominent color change (from bright yellow to colorless) and wavelength shift (blue shift). The limit of detection (LOD) of this assay was found to be 100 nM (i.e., 20 ppb) with a good linearity in the concentration range of 100-10 mM. To further ease the detection process and make it field deployable, we attempted to develop a paper-based sensor strip by immobilizing Glu-AgNPs on a paper strip. Upon interaction with mercury solution of varying concentrations, the decoloration of the spots could be observed easily through naked eyes, with the limit of detection under sub-optical conditions being 1 lM.

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Interruption of the wound healing process due to pathogenic infection remains a major health care challenge. The existing methods for wound management require power sources that hinder their utilization outside of clinical settings. Here, a next generation of wearable self-powered wound dressing is developed, which can be activated by diverse stimuli from the patient’s body and provide on-demand treatment for both normal and infected wounds. The highly tunable dressing is composed of thermocatalytic bismuth telluride nanoplates (Bi 2 Te 3 NPs) functionalized onto carbon fiber fabric electrodes and triggered by the surrounding temperature difference to controllably generate hydrogen peroxide to effectively inhibit bacterial growth at the wound site. The integrated electrodes are connected to a wearable triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) to provide electrical stimulation for accelerated wound closure by enhancing cellular proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis. The reported self-powered dressing holds great potential in facilitating personalized and user-friendly wound care with improved healing outcomes.

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