Active packaging film was developed by incorporating Lycium barbarum fruit extract (LFE) into chitosan. The effects of LFE on physicochemical properties of the chitosan/LFE films were evaluated. When the weight ratio of LFE to chitosan was increased from 0:1 to 1:1, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging activity of the chitosan/LFE films increased near ten-folds and reached up to 35.8%; water vapour permeability of the chitosan/LFE films decreased 43.0% from 5.67 g m mm À2 day À1 kPa À1 , and water solubility decreased from 100% to 24.52% because of interactions between LFE and hydrophilic groups of chitosan confirmed by FTIR. However, the chitosan/LFE films became darker after LFE was incorporated. The pure chitosan film showed better tensile strength (23.19 MPa) and elongation at break (22.29%) than the chitosan/LFE films (15.52 MPa and 9.58% for the one with weight ratio of LFE to chitosan of 0.6:1).
Tin‐based perovskites are a promising candidates to replace their toxic lead‐based counterparts in optoelectronic applications, such as light‐emitting diodes (LEDs). However, the development of tin perovskite LEDs is slow due to the challenge of obtaining high‐quality tin perovskite films. Here, a vapor‐assisted spin‐coating method is developed to achieve high‐quality tin perovskites and high‐efficiency LEDs. It is revealed that solvent vapor can lead to in situ recrystallization of tin perovskites during the film‐formation process, thus significantly improving the crystalline quality with reduced defects. An antioxidant additive is further introduced to suppress the oxidation of Sn2+ and increase the photoluminescence quantum efficiency up to ≈30%, which is an approximately fourfold enhancement in comparison with that of the control method. As a result, efficient tin perovskite LEDs are achieved with a peak external quantum efficiency of 5.3%, which is among the highest efficiency of lead‐free perovskite LEDs.
Alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) was investigated to enhance the content and functionality of soluble dietary fiber (SDF) extracted from black bean coats. Compared with the content of SDF of original black bean coat 7.8%, the content of SDF of modified black bean coat was 16.9% after treated by 15% H 2 O 2 (v/v) at pH 11 and 1:18 (w/v) as liquid-to-solid ratio for 0.5 h. Monosaccharide composition confirmed that the ratio of galacturonic acid in modified SDF (M-SDF) was higher than that of original SDF (O-SDF), and M-SDF was also with smaller molecular weight (Mw) of 1.24 ×10 6 Da and lower ζ-potential of −42.3 mV. Other structural characters were determined by FT-IR and TEM. In the range of 2-6% (w/v), both O-SDF and M-SDF showed a shear thinning behavior. The latter showed stronger gelation ability at the presence of Ca 2+ evaluated by dynamic oscillatory rheometry. Moreover, M-SDF exhibited good abilities of binding bile acids in vitro. It could be concluded that M-SDF had a great potential to be applied as a novel kind of functional ingredient or additive in food industry.
Spray-drying and freeze-drying can extend the shelf life and improve the transportability of high-nutritional foods such as Liluva (processing water of legumes). Nonetheless, the effects of these processes on nutrition, physiochemical properties, and sensory quality are unknown. In this study, particle sizes, protein profiles, colour, and preliminary sensory profile of pea powder samples were determined by Mastersizer 3000, protein gels, chroma meter, and 9-point hedonic scale, respectively. Results indicated that no significant difference was found in the molecular weight distribution of protein bands in pea water and sensory profile after drying. Fibre content in pea water after spray-drying was higher while soluble carbohydrates and minerals were lower than those after freeze-drying. Spray-drying decreased pea water’s lysine content, particle size, redness colour, and yellowness colour, while it increased its light colour; however, freeze-drying showed the opposite results. Overall, spray-drying could be a better drying technology that can be applied to dry pea water. Further experiments are required, however, to determine the influence of drying technologies on emulsifying activity.
A new heteropolysaccharide (PMH) with a molecular weight of 1.4 × 10 kDa was isolated from the seed husks of Plantago asiatica L. The monosaccharide composition of PMH was determined as glucose, xylose, arabinose, rhamnose, galactose and galacturonic acid with a molar ratio of 1.0 : 1.8 : 2.4 : 3.8 : 4.9 : 8.5. The backbone of PMH consisted of 1,4-β-d-GalpA with the side chains mainly composed of 1,3-α-d-Galp and 1,2-α-d-Galp which were attached to the O-3 of GlapA. The thermal analysis using the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) method revealed that PMH had an apparent activation energy (E) of 173.1 kJ mol. PMH experienced a major decomposition during the heating process at a temperature of 91.1 °C with a dry weight loss of 31.1%. Moreover, PMH exhibited stronger antioxidant ability than commercial psyllium, partially due to its higher content of uronic acid. The results suggested that PMH could be used in functional foods due to its structural, thermal and antioxidant characteristics.
Compared with inverted 3D perovskite solar cell (PSCs), inverted quasi‐2D PSCs have advantages in device stability, but the device efficiency is still lagging behind. Constructing polymer hole‐transporting materials (HTMs) with passivation functions to improve the buried interface and crystallization properties of perovskite films is one of the effective strategies to improve the performance of inverted quasi‐2D PSCs. Herein, two novel side‐chain functionalized polymer HTMs containing methylthio‐based passivation groups are designed, named PVCz‐SMeTPA and PVCz‐SMeDAD, for inverted quasi‐2D PSCs. Benefited from the non‐conjugated flexible backbone bearing functionalized side‐chain groups, the polymer HTMs exhibit excellent film‐forming properties, well‐matched energy levels and improved charge mobility, which facilitates the charge extraction and transport between HTM and quasi‐2D perovskite layer. More importantly, by introducing methylthio units, the polymer HTMs can enhance the contact and interactions with quasi‐2D perovskite, and further passivating the buried interface defects and assisting the deposition of high‐quality perovskite. Due to the suppressed interfacial non‐radiative recombination, the inverted quasi‐2D PSCs using PVCz‐SMeTPA and PVCz‐SMeDAD achieve impressive power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.41% and 20.63% with open‐circuit voltage of 1.23 and 1.22 V, respectively. Furthermore, the PVCz‐SMeTPA based inverted quasi‐2D PSCs also exhibits negligible hysteresis and considerably improved thermal and long‐term stability.
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