Cellulose-based Hydrogel Research Articles

Carbon-Yarn-Based Supercapacitors with In Situ Regenerated Cellulose Hydrogel for Sustainable Wearable Electronics.

Developing sustainable options for energy storage in textiles is needed to power future wearable “Internet of Things” (IoT) electronics. This process must consider disruptive alternatives that address questions of sustainability, reuse, repair, or even a second life application. Herein, we pair stretch-broken carbon fiber yarns (SBCFYs), as current collectors, and an in situ regenerated cellulose-based ionic hydrogel (RCIH), as an electrolyte, to fabricate 1D fiber-shaped supercapacitors (FSCs). The areal specific capacitance reaches 433.02 μF·cm–2 at 5 μA·cm–2, while the specific energy density is 1.73 × 10–2 μWh·cm–2. The maximum achieved specific power density is 5.33 × 10–1 mW·cm–2 at 1 mA·cm–2. The 1D FSCs possess a long-life cycle and 92% capacitance retention after 10 000 consecutive voltammetry cycles, higher than similar ones using the reference PVA/H3PO4 gel electrolyte. Additionally, the feasibility and reproducibility of the produced devices were demonstrated by connecting three devices in series and parallel, showing a small variation of the current density in flat and bent positions. An environmentally responsible approach was implemented by recovering the active materials from the 1D FSCs and reusing or recycling them without compromising the electrochemical performance, thus ensuring a circular economy path.

Poly(norepinephrine) As a Functional Additive for Hybrid Cellulose/Agarose-Based Hydrogel Membranes: Application to Supercapacitors

A rapidly growing interest in renewable energy sources requires not only developing efficient energy storage systems but also incorporating a greater number of eco-friendly components. Electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) are a class of energy storage devices capable to store the electrical charge due to the separation of oppositely charged ions in the electrical field which results in the formation of an electrical double layer (EDL) at the electrode/electrolyte interface. EDLCs consist in general of two porous carbon-based electrodes pre-soaked with electrolyte and separated with a membrane (separator). The simple electrostatic mechanism of energy storage, coupled with a lack of chemical changes and faradaic transitions during operation, results in high electrical capacitance compared to classical capacitors, significantly higher power density in contrast to batteries, and practically unlimited life span. Currently, commercial EDLCs typically rely on organic solvents, such as acetonitrile or propylene carbonate, with the addition of ionically-conductive salts. However, there are several drawbacks when it comes to practical applications involving particular low conductivity, toxicity, flammability and high cost. This resulted in an increased interest in aqueous electrolytes such as KOH, H2SO4 or simple inorganic salts, which although they have a limited potential window, exhibit many positive features including higher ionic conductivity, lower viscosity, increased safety, lower cost and ease of assembly under ambient atmosphere. Modern and technologically advanced charge storage devices often require high safety flexible and deformable devices for specific applications. However, at the current state-of-the-art, the EDLCs suffer from two prominent limitations (i) the possibility of electrolyte leakage and (ii) high standards of technology to safely encapsulate electrolytes in the device. Therefore, a lot of research is held to develop alternatives for currently used liquid (aqueous and organic) electrolytes. One of the solutions to overcome these limitations are solid-state EDLCs. Those systems use an ionically-conductive polymer or hydrogel membrane, which serves as both the separator and the electrolyte. Cellulose, built of β-(1→4)-linked D-glucose units, is one of the most prevalent and easily degradable biopolymers. Albeit, its wide availability, biodegradability and low cost, the usage of cellulose is limited due to insolubility in most common solvents. The recent alternative, to toxic and flammable organic compounds, such as N, N- dimethylformamide/N2O4, N-methylmorpholine oxide (NMMO), are ionic liquids (ILs), that have been gaining lately a lot of attention in energy storage systems. Various ILs based on imidazolium, pyridinium and ammonium cation paired with strongly basic anion (e.g., OAc-, HCOO-) were also recently used to dissolve cellulose. However, the requirements of high-purity syntheses and the cost of some of the cations/anions may affect a large scale application. Therefore, our research refers to an alternative route of chemical regeneration of microcrystalline cellulose, i.e. its dissolution using an aqueous mixture of NaOH/urea, and further processing into a hydrogel membrane in the presence of cross-linking agent epichlorohydrin. To improve the mechanical strength and electrolyte uptake, in-situ polymerized norepinephrine and agarose were subsequently incorporated obtaining an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN). The structure and morphology of the membranes were characterized with SEM/EDX, CP/MAS 13C-NMR, AT-FTIR, TGA, contact angle, and elementary analysis. The ionic conductivity was determined using impedance spectroscopy over a wide range of temperatures (5-60°C). The relation between stress and strain in the materials was also determined to diagnose the mechanical properties. The cellulose-based hydrogel membranes were further used as a support for various aqueous electrolytes, including H2SO4, Na2SO4, i.e. most commonly used for aqueous EDLCs. Also, the alternative electrolyte was used, i.e. silicotungstic acid, H4SiW12O40 which according to our recent results seems to be a promising candidate to replace conventional acidic electrolytes [1]. The designed systems were compared, in terms of energy, power and cycleability, with their analogues using conventional polypropylene separators and a liquid electrolyte.[1] N.H. Wisinska, M. Skunik-Nuckowska, S. Dyjak, P.J. Kulesza, Factors affecting the performance of electrochemical capacitors operating in Keggin-type silicotungstic acid electrolyte, Appl. Surf. Sci. 530 (2020) 147273, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.147273Acknowledgement Financial support was provided by the National Science Center under Preludium 19 grant no. 2020/37//N/ST4/01679. This work was implemented as a part of Operational Project Knowledge Education Development 2014–2020 co-financed by the European Social Fund, Project No POWR.03.02.00-00-I007/16-00 (POWER 2014-2020)

Carboxymethyl cellulose-based semi-IPN hydrogel nanocomposite with improved physicochemical and mechanical properties

Carboxymethyl cellulose-based semi-IPN hydrogel nanocomposite with improved physicochemical and mechanical properties

Doxorubicin loaded hydrogel microparticles from microfluidics for local injection therapy of tumors

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a powerful chemotherapy drug for cancer treatment, especially in patients with advanced cancer. However, clinical use of DOX remains challenging due to its widespread drug resistance and severe cardiotoxicity. Here, we developed a novel DOX-loaded natural hydrogel microparticle by using microfluidic electrospray technology. The designed carboxymethyl cellulose-based hydrogel microparticles were cross-linked by iron ions and showed a sustained drug release. The animal experiments revealed that DOX-loaded microparticles had good biocompatibility when locally injected into tumor-bearing mice, and could enhance the effect of chemotherapy and effectively inhibit tumor growth without obvious toxicity. These features indicated that the natural biomass-based hydrogel microparticles are highly promising for chemotherapy drugs delivery and provide a platform for local therapy.

Hydrogel synthesis using extracted cellulose from Opuntia Ficus indica seeds and its application in methylene blue dye removal

Our study is located on the cellulosic part of Opuntia Ficus Indica seed's residue. The extracted cellulose was dissolved in NaOH/urea solution and then we used the epichlorohydrin as crosslink reagent, to obtain the cellulose-based hydrogel. The structure of the extracted cellulose and synthetized hydrogel was determined using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) also scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for a better understanding of the morphology of the synthetized hydrogel. The hydrogel has shown an interesting methylene blue dye adsorption and removal capacity up to 83% using an optimal adsorbent dose m=0.5g at an ambient temperature T=25˚C, the solution concentration 10ppm at a pH=6.5 for 70min. This study confirmed the potentials of using hydrogels in water treatment as a biological support for their extracting properties, respecting the environment, as well as their renewability and their biodegradability.

Modulating superabsorbent polymer properties by adjusting the amphiphilicity.

The role of amphiphilicity in polysaccharide-based superabsorbent polymers is paramount in determining material properties. While the performance of freeze-dried polymers is improved by maximizing hydrophilicity, this may not be the case for evaporative-dried polymers. In this study, four diglycidyl ether crosslinkers, with varying chain lengths and amphiphilicities, were used to synthesize a series of evaporative-dried carboxymethyl cellulose-based superabsorbent films. Through structural and physiochemical characterization, the effect of amphiphilicity on swelling and mechanical properties was established. Contrary to freeze-dried polymers, it was found that the addition of hydrophobic moieties by crosslinking with novel poly(propylene glycol) diglycidyl ether crosslinkers increased the swelling performance of evaporative-dried polymers. By adding hydrophobic functional groups, a reduction in inter-chain hydrogen bonding occurs during evaporative-drying, reducing the degree of hornification and decreasing the entropy requirement for water uptake. By optimizing the amphiphilic ratio, a poly(propylene glycol)-carboxymethyl cellulose polymer achieved a swelling capacity of 182 g/g which is competitive with freeze-dried cellulose-based hydrogels. The mechanical properties of these films improved with the addition of the crosslinkers, with glycerol-carboxymethyl cellulose polymers achieving a tensile strength of 39 MPa and a Young’s Modulus of 4.0 GPa, indicating their potential application as low-cost, swellable films.

Controllable Construction of Temperature-Sensitive Supramolecular Hydrogel Based on Cellulose and Cyclodextrin.

In temperature sensitive hydrogels, the swelling degree or light transmittance of the gel itself changes with variations in ambient temperature, prompting its wide application in controlled drug release, tissue engineering, and material separation. Considering the amphiphilic structure of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), a cellulose-based supramolecular hydrogel with superior temperature sensitivity was synthesized based on a combination of cellulose and β-CD as well as the host–guest interaction between β-CD and polypropylene glycol (PPG). In the one-pot tandem reaction process, chemical grafting of β-CD on cellulose and the inclusion complexation of β-CD with PPG were performed simultaneously in a NaOH/urea/water system. The obtained supramolecular hydrogel had a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of 34 °C. There existed covalent bonding between the cellulose and β-CD, host–guest complexation between the β-CD and PPG, and hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions between the components in the network structure of the supramolecular hydrogel. The combination of various covalent and non-covalent bonds endowed the resulting supramolecular hydrogel with good internal network structure stability and thermal stability, as well as sensitive temperature responsiveness within a certain range—implying its potential as a smart material in the fields of medicine, biology, and textiles. This work is expected to bring new strategies for the fabrication of cellulose-based thermosensitive materials, benefitting the high-value utilization of cellulose.

One-step preparation of flexible nanocellulose-based composite hydrogel supercapacitors with high specific capacitance

Supercapacitors (SCs) have ultra-high specific capacitance far exceeding traditional capacitors, and have become an important direction in the field of capacitor research. However, SCs devices based on carbon materials usually require a high temperature environment for N-doping or compounding of pseudocapacitive materials, which greatly increases the manufacturing cost and the difficulty of industrialized production. Herein, we fabricated cellulose-based flexible hydrogel supercapacitors by Fe3+ facilitated one-step ternary composite of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)-oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TOCN)/sulfonated carbon nanotubes (SCNT)/polyaniline (PANI). The combination of these three substances could form a porous and flexible three-dimensional conductive hydrogel just at room temperature. By comparing the performance of supercapacitors prepared with different ratios of three substances, it was found that the best supercapacitors exhibited a high area specific capacitance of 1786 mF/cm2 at a current density of 1 mA/cm2 and excellent flexibility. Therefore, these composite hydrogels are promising for high-performance flexible solid-state supercapacitors.

Hydrogel and Effects of Crosslinking Agent on Cellulose-Based Hydrogels: A Review.

Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymer materials that can swell but are insoluble in water. Hydrogels can be synthesized with synthetic or natural polymers, but natural polymers are preferred because they are similar to natural tissues, which can absorb a high water content, are biocompatible, and are biodegradable. The three-dimensional structure of the hydrogel affects its water insolubility and ability to maintain its shape. Cellulose hydrogels are preferred over other polymers because they are highly biocompatible, easily accessible, and affordable. Carboxymethyl cellulose sodium (CMCNa) is an example of a water-soluble cellulose derivative that can be synthesized using natural materials. A crosslinking agent is used to strengthen the properties of the hydrogel. Chemical crosslinking agent is used more often than physical crosslinking agent. In this review, article, different types of crosslinking agents are discussed based on synthetic and natural crosslinking agents. Hydrogels that utilize synthetic crosslinking agent have advantages, such as adjustable mechanical properties and easy control of the chemical composition. However, hydrogels that use natural crosslinking agent have better biocompatibility and less latent toxic effect.

DEAE- Cellulose-based composite hydrogel for 3D printing application: Physicochemical, mechanical, and biological optimization

3D bioprinting is a layer-by-layer additive manufacturing process that requires the incorporation of biomaterials, cells, growth factors, etc. The biomaterial-ink used in bioprinting should comprise essential properties like shear thinning, proper viscosity and reduced shear stress on cells, structural integrity, porosity, biocompatible and degradable, etc., Especially in extrusion-based bioprinting, optimization of biomaterial ink is critical. Even though single-aspect biomaterials have been used for establishing a biomaterial ink, however, they often fail to meet all properties needed to be used as a biomaterial ink. Carrying this point in view, we have formulated hydrogels using Diethylaminoethyl Cellulose (DEAE-Cellulose), Alginate (ALG), and Gelatin (GEL) as biomaterial inks. Initially, six different hydrogel formulations (F1-F6) were prepared with varying concentrations of DEAE- Cellulose (0.45%−2%), alginate (1%−2%), and keeping gelatine concentration constant at 3.33%. These formulations were then assayed by swelling and degradation tests. Out of six, three hydrogels (F3, F4, and F5) were eliminated after initial studies due to the rapid degradation rate. The other three hydrogels ( F1, F2, and F6) were further thoroughly analyzed by the rheological study, mechanical study, printability assay, morphological analysis, and biocompatibility assays. Here, We have demonstrated the successful formulation of three biomaterial inks utilizing three different biopolymers for the field of tissue engineering with adequate swelling, degradation, rheological and printability properties. It was observed that the incorporation of DEAE-Cellulose significantly improved the shear thinning and viscosity recovery of hydrogels. Also, it improves mechanical integrity and printing accuracy. Moreover, all three hydrogels have shown excellent hemocompatibility and cytocompatibility. To conclude, this study proposes the optimization of composite hydrogel for 3D printing applications.

Aloe vera Rind Valorization to Improve the Swelling Capacity of Commercial Acrylic Hydrogels

Acrylic hydrogels have been used in agriculture to increase the availability of water in the soil; cause faster plant growth and increase plant survival to water stress; allow controlled release of fertilizers; and, therefore, increase crop yields. On the other hand, Aloe vera gel production generates a large amount of solid waste as cuticles, which is currently underutilized despite that it is a good source of cellulose nanofibers that could be used to improve the swelling capacity of commercial acrylic hydrogels. In this work, both morphology (SEM) and particle size (TEM) of the cellulose nanofibers obtained from A. vera cuticles by the acid hydrolysis method combined with ultrasound were analyzed; as well as the presence of functional groups (FITR) and thermal stability (TGA). Then, acrylic hydrogels were synthesized by the solution polymerization method, and nanofibers were added to these hydrogels at different concentrations (0% w w−1, 3% w w−1, 5% w w−1, and 10% w w−1). These concentrations had a nonlinear relationship with the swelling capacity, and the hydrogel reinforced at 3% cellulose nanofiber was chosen as the best formulation in this work, as this one improved the swelling capacity of hydrogels at equilibrium (476 g H2O g hydrogel−1) compared to the hydrogel without nanofiber (310 g H2O g hydrogel−1), while hydrogels with 10% nanofiber had a similar swelling capacity to the non-reinforced hydrogel (295 H2O g hydrogel−1). Therefore, cellulose-based superabsorbent hydrogels with potential application in agriculture were developed in this work.

Cellulose-Based Hydrogels: Patent Analysis

Background: Among biopolymers, cellulose and its derivatives are the most commonly used for hydrogel formulations. The innovation and improvement of cellulose-based hydrogels concerned the raw materials, synthesis and methods of preparation, formulations and fabrication processes, as well as applications.
 Objectives: This study, in the form of patent analysis, presents the state by introducing what has been innovated and patented concerning cellulose-based hydrogels.
 Methods: Three databases have been used in this study: the Patentscope, the Espacenet, and the Lens patent data set. A detailed analysis has been provided regarding publication dates, patent families, jurisdictions, inventors, applicants, owners, and patent classifications.
 Results: A total of 8053 patent documents related to cellulose-based hydrogels have been published between 1965 and 2021. The United States leads the patent race in this sector, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the top academic applicants.
 Conclusion: Based on patent classifications, most patent documents are related to medicinal preparations characterized by special physical forms. More specifically, the classification concerns materials for prostheses or coating prostheses, including cellulose derivatives characterized by their function or physical properties, such as macromolecular gels, hydrogels, or hydrocolloids.

Nano-carboxymethylcellulose, polyacrylamide, and γ-Fe2O3-SO3H cross-linked to a hydrophobic linker: An organic-inorganic hydrogel for adsorptive removal of dyes

Dye removal by magnetic hydrogel adsorbents has the potential to compliment water treatment. Here, a new pH-responsive and magnetic hydrogel implanted with the hydrophobic chlorophenyl groups was prepared by cross-linking the cotton-derived nanocarboxymethylcellulose crystals (NCMCC), γ-Fe2O3-SO3H, and polyacrylamide (PAAmide) to the N,N'-((4-chlorophenyl)methylene) diacrylamide (NNCMDA). Besides to the hydrogel's magnetizing agent, γ-Fe2O3-SO3H was the catalyst in synthesis of bis-acrylamide NNCMDA that cross-linked the components in hydrogel NCMCC/PAAmide/γ-Fe2O3-SO3H/NNCMDA characterized by FT-IR, FESEM, TGA, BET, VSM, and XRD analyses. While implantation of hydrogel by hydrophobic cross-linker NNCMDA caused ∼1.5 times drop in swelling capacity, a general adsorptive removal plus to selectivity were observed for cationic dyes of Methylene blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RB) with adsorption capacities of 717.0 mg/g and 61.0 mg/g, respectively. Adsorption mechanism for MB was in agreement with the Langmuir model (R2 = 0.99) and a monolayer adsorption of dye on the hydrogel surface, whereas adsorption kinetics was compatible by the pseudo-second-order model (R2 = 0.99). The advantages of the present hydrogel are simultaneous entering of the nano-CMC, hydrophobic implant NNCMDA, and the pH-responsive magnetizing agent γ-Fe2O3-SO3H into the hydrogel matrix and upgrading the removal performance of hydrogel to 74.68% for MB and 50.85% for RB without change after the fifth recycling run. All results confirmed the more adsorptive effectiveness of the NCMCC/PAAmide/γ-Fe2O3-SO3H/NNCMDA in dye removal versus the reported cellulose-based hydrogels.

Cellulose-based functional hydrogels derived from bamboo for product design.

Hydrogels have outstanding research and application prospects in the field of product design. Among them, the design and preparation of cellulose-based functional hydrogels derived from bamboo have attracted increasing research interest. Cellulose-based hydrogels not only have the skeleton function of hydrogels, but also retain excellent specificity, smart structural design, precise molecular recognition ability, and superior biocompatibility. Cellulose-based hydrogels show important application prospects in various fields, such as environmental protection, biomedicine, and energy. What’s more, they are potentially viable for application in food packaging and plant agriculture, such as fertilizers release and crop production. Recently, researchers have extracted cellulose from bamboo and generated a variety of cellulose-based functional hydrogels with excellent properties by various cross-linking methods. In addition, a variety of multifunctional hybrid cellulose-based hydrogels have been constructed by introducing functional components or combining them with other functional materials, thus expanding the breadth and depth of their applications. Herein, we elaborate on advances in the field of cellulose-based hydrogels and highlight their applications in food packaging and plant agriculture. Meanwhile, the existing problems and prospects are summarized. The review provides a reference for the further development of cellulose-based hydrogels.

Recent Advances in Cellulose-Based Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering Applications

In recent years, cellulose has attracted much attention because of its excellent properties, such as its hydrophilicity, mechanical properties, biodegradability, biocompatibility, low cost and low toxicity. In addition, cellulose and its derivatives contain abundant hydrophilic functional groups (such as hydroxyl, carboxyl and aldehyde groups), which are good raw materials for synthesizing biocompatible hydrogels. In this paper, the application prospects of cellulose and its derivatives-based hydrogels in biomedical tissue engineering are summarized and discussed through the analysis of recent research. Firstly, we discuss the structure and properties of cellulose, nano celluloses (NC) from different sources (including cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and bacterial nano celluloses (BNC)) and cellulose derivatives (including cellulose ethers and cellulose esters) obtained by different modification methods. Then, the properties and preparation methods of physical and chemical cellulose hydrogels are described, respectively. The application of cellulose-based hydrogels as a tissue engineering scaffold (skin, bone and cartilage) in the biomedical field is introduced. Finally, the challenges and prospects of cellulose-based hydrogels in tissue engineering are summarized.

A zwitterionic cellulose-based skin sensor for the real-time monitoring and antibacterial sensing wound dressing

Wound infection can induce inflammation and impede wound healing, being a major challenge in wound care management. A household device that can monitor infection in real time, prevent bacterial, and promote wound healing is highly desired but still rarely investigated. In this work, a novel zwitterionic cellulose-based hydrogel that enables continuously real-time monitoring and pro-healing of infected wound is designed. It is based on interpenetrating polymeric networks, including zwitterionic covalent bond network and physical bond network of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) with Ag+via metal-coordination interactions. When used as a sensing dressing, it is developed to exhibit pH-responsive and temperature-responsive properties for assessment of wound infection. Moreover, Ag+ can be released from carboxyl groups of CMC in response to the decrease of pH, killing bacteria and promoting wound healing. This zwitterionic carboxymethyl cellulose-based hydrogel sensor opens new avenues for domestic real-time monitoring and pro-healing of infected wound.

Preparation and Performance Analysis of Bacterial Cellulose-Based Composite Hydrogel Based on Scanning Electron Microscope.

In order to better prepare and analyze bacterial cellulose-based composite hydrogels, an experimental method based on scanning electron microscopy was proposed. The specific content of the method is to observe the hydrogel through scanning electron microscope, to observe the space between molecules through experiments, and to improve the effect of bacterial cellulose preparation of hydrogel. The experimental results show that the gel preparation effect is best when PEG concentration is not more than observed by scanning electron microscope. It is better to prepare bacterial cellulose complex hydrogel by scanning electron microscopy.

In-situ structuring a robust cellulose hydrogel with ZnO/SiO2 heterojunctions for efficient photocatalytic degradation

Hydrogel supported photocatalyst, an efficient strategy for water remediation suffers from compromised catalytic activity and insufficient stability. Herein, a robust cellulose-based composite hydrogel with zinc oxide (ZnO)/silica (SiO2) heterojunctions were fabricated by in-situ synthesis, where SiO2 not only acted as a cross-linking agent to enhance the mechanical strength and stability of hydrogel, but also promoted the photocatalytic properties of ZnO via transferring the electron-hole pairs due to its surface state. As a result, a significant improvement in the mechanical properties of cellulose-based composite hydrogel was achieved, exhibiting a high compressive strength of 703.4 kPa. Moreover, the degradation efficiency of methylene blue (MB) under light irradiation by cellulose-based composite hydrogel was 95 % in 120 min and the removal ratio maintained as high as 90 % after eight degradation cycles. This study provides a low-cost and facile method to construct new hydrogel supports with high stability and efficient photocatalytic properties.

Cellulose-based thermo-responsive hydrogel with NIR photothermal enhanced DOX released property for anti-tumor chemotherapy

Thermo-sensitive hydrogels change their properties through phase transition, which could be used to regulate various behaviors by changing the temperature. In this study, degradable hydrogels with thermo-response were designed by reaction of oxidized carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-CHO) with functional P(NIPAM-co-AH). The hydrogels showed biocompatibility and thermo-response with lower critical solution temperature (LCST) regulated by weight ratio of P(NIPAM-co-AH)/CMC-CHO. The photo-thermal property of gold nanorod was triggered by the near-infrared (NIR) to enhance the DOX release for in vivo anti-tumor therapy of model mice. The results showed good biocompatibility and biodegradability of the hydrogel both in vitro and in vivo, and the DOX with hydrogel loading reduced the toxicity through sustained release behavior. The anti-tumor performance further enhanced with NIR triggered drug release regulated by photo-thermal property. In conclusion, the injectable P(NIPAM-co-AH)/CMC-CHO based self-healing hydrogels could act as promising drug delivery vehicle for potential localized anti-tumor therapy.

Ag/AgCl nanoparticles reinforced cellulose-based hydrogel coated cotton fabric with self-healing and photo-induced self-cleaning properties for durable oil/water separation

Cellulose-based hydrogel coated porous membranes as “water removing” materials have received considerable attention in the field of oil/water separation. However, the majority of them are vulnerable to external mechanical destruction and inevitably suffer from organic and biological fouling. In this work, a novel Ag/AgCl nanoparticles (NPs) hybrid cellulose-based hydrogel (AHCH) derived from hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) was successfully prepared that exhibited good mechanical properties, followed by anti-swelling, self-healing, and self-cleaning properties. To apply this AHCH for oil/water separation, it was coated on a piece of cotton fabric (AHCH@CF) through the facile sol-gel coating method. The as-prepared AHCH@CF presented superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic features, resulting in its satisfactory anti-oil-fouling ability. Meanwhile, it exhibited excellent oil/water separation properties for various water/oil mixtures, accompanied by separation efficiency of around 99.5% and high water flux up to approximately 15,246 L −1 m −2 h −1 . Moreover, the separation efficiency could still maintain at greater than 99.0% after 50 cycles. Notably, the as-obtained AHCH@CF showed excellent stability even in highly acidic, basic, saline solutions, and ultrasonic treatment. Most importantly, due to the existence of numerous spherical Ag/AgCl NPs on the surface, AHCH@CF exhibited good photo-induced self-cleaning property and antibacterial activity. Hence, this AHCH@CF with high performance provides a new candidate material for the application in efficient and durable oil/water separation. • Novel AHCH@CF is fabricated by sol-gel method with superhydrophilicity. • AHCH@CF can separate oil/water mixtures with high flux, efficiency, stability. • AHCH@CF presents self-healing and photo-induced self-cleaning features. • AHCH@CF exhibits excellent anti-oil-fouling property and antibacterial activity.