In situ hydrogels have attracted considerable attention in tissue engineering because of their minimal invasiveness and ability to match the irregular tissue defects. However, hydrous physiological environments and the high level of moisture in hydrogels severely hamper binding to the target tissue and easily cause wound infection, thereby limiting the effectiveness in wound care management. Thus, forming an intimate assembly of the hydrogel to the tissue and preventing wound infecting still remains a significant challenge. In this study, inspired by mussel adhesive protein, a biomimetic dopamine‐modified ε‐poly‐l‐lysine‐polyethylene glycol‐based hydrogel (PPD hydrogel) wound dressing is developed in situ using horseradish peroxidase cross‐linking. The biomimetic catechol–Lys residue distribution in PPD polymer provides a catechol–Lys cooperation effect, which endows the PPD hydrogels with superior wet tissue adhesion properties. It is demonstrated that the PPD hydrogel can facilely and intimately integrate with biological tissue and exhibits superior capacity of in vivo hemostatic and accelerated wound repair. In addition, the hydrogels exhibit outstanding anti‐infection property because of the inherent antibacterial ability of ε‐poly‐l‐lysine. These findings shed new light on the development of mussel‐inspired tissue‐anchored and antibacterial hydrogel materials serving as wound dressings.
Ferrihydrite (Fh) supported Pt (Pt/Fh) catalyst was first prepared by combining microemulsion and NaBH4 reduction methods and investigated for room-temperature removal of formaldehyde (HCHO). It was found that the order of addition of Pt precursor and ferrihydrite in the preparation process has an important effect on the microstructure and performance of the catalyst. Pt/Fh was shown to be an efficient catalyst for complete oxidation of HCHO at room temperature, featuring higher activity than magnetite supported Pt (Pt/Fe3O4). Pt/Fh and Pt/Fe3O4 exhibited much higher catalytic activity than Pt supported over calcined Fh and TiO2. The abundance of surface hydroxyls, high Pt dispersion and excellent adsorption performance of Fh are responsible for superior catalytic activity and stability of the Pt/Fh catalyst. This work provides some indications into the design and fabrication of the cost-effective and environmentally benign catalysts with excellent adsorption and catalytic oxidation performances for HCHO removal at room temperature.
Fe-modified TiO(2) nanotube arrays (TiO(2) NTs) were prepared by annealing amorphous TiO(2) NTs whose surface was covered with Fe(3+) by a dip-coating procedure, and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-visible reflectance spectroscopy. The photoelectrochemical properties were evaluated by the photocurrent response and photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) degradation of methylene orange (MO) and 4-chlorophenol in water under visible-light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). The results showed that a Fe-modified TiO(2) NTs electrode exhibited a larger photocurrent response and higher PEC activity for the degradation of organic pollutants than a pure TiO(2) NTs electrode. At a bias potential of 0.4 V, the photocurrent response of a 0.5 M Fe-modified TiO(2) NTs electrode exceeded that of a pure TiO(2) NTs electrode by a factor of about 10, and the PEC degradation rates of MO and 4-chlorophenol on a 0.5 M Fe-modified TiO(2) NTs electrode exceeded those on a pure TiO(2) NTs electrode by a factor of about 2.5. The larger photocurrent response and higher PEC activity of Fe-modified TiO(2) NTs could be attributed to the enhancement of separation of charge-carriers at the external electric field and the extension of the light response range of TiO(2) to the visible-light region with the narrowing of the band gap.
NaOH-modified ceramic honeycombs (Na-CH) were simply prepared by impregnating ceramic honeycombs (CH) into NaOH aqueous solution. It was clearly shown that the surface modification incurs higher specific surface area and smaller grain sizes of the CH without destruction of their integrity. Moreover, the introduced surface NaOH can trigger Cannizzaro disproportionation of surface-absorbed formaldehyde (HCHO) on Na-CH, resulting in catalytic transformation of HCHO into less-toxic formate and methoxy salts. The NaOH concentration during impregnating treatment has a great influence on HCHO adsorption and removal efficiency, while the impregnation time and temperature have little influence on the efficiency. When the CH was impregnated in 1 M NaOH aqueous solution for 0.5 h at room temperature, the HCHO removal efficiency at ambient temperature can reach about 80% with an initial HCHO concentration of 250 ppm. Moreover, the used Na-CH can be facilely regenerated via 1 min blow using a common electric hair dryer, with the generation of less toxic HCOOH and CH3OH and recovery of NaOH. Using such a mild, fast, and practical regeneration method, the regenerated Na-CH showed slight degradation in adsorption and removal capability toward HCHO. The enhanced performance of Na-CH obtained was attributed to the presence of NaOH and increase of specific surface area and surface hydroxyl groups. Considering no demand of noble metal for HCHO removal at ambient temperature and practical reusable capability of Na-CH under mild conditions, this work may provide some new insights into the design and fabrication of advanced catalysts for indoor air purification.
Mesoporous ferrihydrite/SiO2 composites were synthesized according to a water-in-oil microemulsion method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, nitrogen-adsorption/desorption, and by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The as-prepared porous ferrihydrite/SiO2 composites showed an excellent adsorption performance for formaldehyde (HCHO) removal from indoor air at ambient temperature. It was found that the aging time during the synthesis had a significant impact on the pore structure, surface area, and HCHO adsorption of these materials. The ferrihydrite/SiO2 composite that was aged for 3 h in the presence of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) exhibited a relatively high HCHO adsorption capacity, as well as good recyclability, which was attributed to a relatively large BET surface area, optimal pore size, a suitable Si/Fe atomic ratio, and a synergistic effect between ferrihydrite and SiO2. This work not only demonstrates that porous ferrihydrite/SiO2 composites can act as an efficient adsorbent toward HCHO, but suggests a new route for the rational design of cost-effective and environmentally benign adsorbents with high performance for indoor air purification.
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