Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sponges incorporated with hydrophobic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (PDMS/H-MSNs) were fabricated by a sugar templating method. Hydrophobicity of H-MSNs was achieved by heat treatment under an inert atmosphere. PDMS/H-MSNs had a progressively increased water contact angle with loading amounts of H-MSNs. The mechanical properties were improved upon incorporation of H-MSNs in PDMS sponges. Also, PDMS/H-MSNs sponges were resilient as indicated by a complete recovery to its original shape after 50 cycles of compression strain at 50%. PDMS/H-MSNs sponges were capable of selectively absorbing diesel oil and various organic solvents. The sponges had the ability to completely remove solvents either floating on a water surface or under water. PDMS/H-MSNs increasingly absorbed chloroform with increasing amounts of H-MSNs with its absorption capacity as high as 2000%. The reusability was tested with PDMS/20H-MSNs sponges by repeated adsorption–desorption of dichloromethane. The sponge can maintain its absorption capacities after 20 adsorption–desorption cycles.

Herein, we demonstrate the superior electrocatalytic activities of microporous carbon in the oxidation of three molecular biomarkers, ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), and uric acid (UA), which are co-present in biological fluids.

Simple approaches for developing sensitive fluorescence sensors for 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) detection were reported. Pyrene-doped poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(vinyl chloride-co-vinyl acetate-co-vinyl alcohol) (PVC terpolymer) fibres, polystyrene (PS) fibres, and poly(styrene-co-methyl methacrylate) (PS-co-PMMA) fibres were prepared via electrospinning technique. Fibre morphology was studied using scanning electron microscopy. Sensing performance towards DNT was monitored through fluorescence emission of pyrene. The time dependence of quenching was observed for all fibres. Polymer matrix was found to affect DNT sensing, where PS fibres and PS-co-PMMA fibres showed slightly higher quenching efficiencies than PMMA-PVC terpolymer fibres. Enhanced quenching efficiency was achieved through introduction of porosity using poly(ethylene glycol)-400 (PEG) as a porogen to PMMA-PVC terpolymer fibres. The effect of porosity on sensing performance was further explored in pyrene-doped PS-co-PMMA membrane. Porous membrane prepared from a solution with PS-co-PMMA to PEG ratio of 1:1 provided higher sensing performance towards DNT than dense PS-co-PMMA membrane, possibly resulting from the increased surface area.