Mesoporous Surface Research Articles

Anchoring Pt Particles onto Mesoporousized ZnO Holey Cubes for Triethylamine Detection with Multifaceted Superiorities.

Designing sensing materials with integrating unique spatial structures, functional units, and surface activity is vital to achieve high-performance gas sensor toward triethylamine (TEA) detection. Herein, a simple spontaneous dissolution is used with subsequent thermal decomposition strategy to fabricate mesoporousized ZnO holey cubes. The squaric acid is crucial to coordinate Zn2+ to form a cubic shape (ZnO-0) and then tailor the inner part to open a holey cube with simultaneously mesoporousizing the left cubic body (ZnO-72). To enhance the sensing performance, the mesoporous ZnO holey cubes have been functionalized with catalytic Pt nanoparticles, which deliver superior performances including high response, low detection limit, and fast response and recovery time. Notably, the response of Pt/ZnO-72 towards 200ppm TEA is up to 535, which is much higher than those of 43 and 224 for pristine ZnO-0 and ZnO-72. A synergistic mechanism combining the intrinsic merits of ZnO, its unique mesoporous holey cubic structure, the oxygen vacancies, and the catalytic sensitization effect of Pt has been proposed for the significant enhancement in TEA sensing. Ourwork provides an effective facile approach to fabricate an advanced micro-nano architecture with manipulating its spatial structure, functional units, and active mesoporous surface for promising TEA gas sensors.

Insight into the origin of oxidation behaviors of carbon fiber reinforced carbon aerogel composites with different porous skeletons

Carbon fiber reinforced carbon aerogel (C/CA) composites are promising lightweight insulators for the thermal protection of aerospace vehicles at ultra-high temperatures. However, it is seriously lack of understanding their oxidation behaviors despite its importance for the applications in oxygen-containing environments. Herein, we fabricate two kinds of C/CA using resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) and phenolic resin (PR) as precursors and investigate the effects of original and heat-treated skeletons on their oxidation behaviors. The results show that the composites derived from RF have the lower mass losses at 600−800 °C after 35-min oxidation with an apparent activation energy of 50.80 kJ mol−1 than the counterparts derived from PR with the value of 40.14 kJ mol−1. It can be explained by the existence of more impurities and macropores as well as the larger residual tensile stress in C/CA from PR. The temperature-dependent oxidation morphology evolution is similar to the time-dependent evolution, changing from the gradually enlarged pores, to the formed grooves and even island-like structure. However, the composites from RF have reversely the higher mass losses when they were heat treated at 1600 and 2300 °C, which is attributed to its relatively lower crystallinity and larger mesopore surface area. The significant increase in crystallinity and decrease in impurities and specific surface area are the main explanations for the remarkably lower oxidation rates after heat treatment. The oxidation behaviors of C/CA are jointly governed by the carbon-oxygen reaction and diffusion within pores; and the residual stress exerts a role to different extent.

Evolution of pore structures and fractal characteristics of coal-based activated carbon in steam activation based on nitrogen adsorption method

To investigate the structures and fractal characteristics of micro- and mesopores during steam activation, a series activated carbons were prepared from Datong bituminous coal by physical activation at 750 and 850 °C. Low-temperature nitrogen adsorption and Frenkel-Halsey-Hill model were employed to determine the fractal dimensions of pore structures. The results demonstrate that micro- and mesopore structures were fully developed during steam activation, and activation at 750 °C was conducive to the development of pore structures, especially mesopores. The samples had similar pore size distributions that the micropore diameters mainly centered at 0.4–0.8 nm and 1.2–1.8 nm, and the mesopores mainly distributed in the range of 2–9 nm. The variation of surface and structure fractal dimensions for activated carbons with different burn-offs indicated that the surface roughness and structure complexity changed during activation process. The fractal dimensions of micropore surface (D1) and micropore structure (D2) had positively linear correlation with Smic/SBET and Vmic/Vtot, respectively. While the mesopore surface fractal dimensions (D1’) have a negative association with Sext/SBET, and the structure fractal dimensions (D2’) have a negative but weak association with Vmes/Vtot.

Improved photocatalytic oxidation of ciprofloxacin by NiS-coupled WO3 nanorods synthesized by solvothermal method under visible light

Photocatalytic oxidation of antibiotics over semiconducting nanostructured photocatalysts is stared as a capable procedure for preventing possible antimicrobial resistance. Accordingly, plenteous research suggestions for photocatalyst design and trials are investigated to realize this approach. Moreover, photostability and reusability are important factors for sustainable utilization. Herein, tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanorods were grown by a solvothermal route in the presence of double soft templates, followed by incorporating nickel sulfide (NiS) nanoparticles on their surface to have NiS/WO3 nanocomposite photocatalysts. These formed heterojunctions were analyzed via several tools. The NiS incorporation has widened the visible-light harvesting owing to the bandgap reduction from 2.82 eV for pure WO3 to 2.40 eV at 9 wt% of NiS. The mesoporous surface has not been meaningfully impacted by incorporating NiS with a value of the surface area between 163 and 189 m2 g-1. The photooxidation of ciprofloxacin (CiP) over the formed photocatalysts were done under visible-light irradiation. The 2.0 g L-1 of 9% NiS/WO3 has completely oxidized 30.2 μmol CiP at a 1.38 μmol min−1. This progressive NiS/WO3 p-n heterojunction has also implied reusability for five repetitive cycles. This excellent photoactivity is ascribed to the charge transfer by the S-scheme mechanism and the synergistic upshot of a particular NiS expanse.

Liquid-phase benzylation of toluene by benzyl alcohol over micro-mesoporous hierarchical mordenite zeolite.

In this work, post-synthetic effective acid (HNO3) and base (NaOH) etching technique are used to create hierarchical mordenite having different pore structure. The powder X-ray diffraction (P-XRD) technique was used to confirm the crystalline structure of the base-modified and acid-modified mordenite. Field emission-scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) was employed to confirm the structural morphology of the materials. The modified mordenite was further characterised by inductive coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and acid-base titration, to confirm the structural integrity, presence of active acidic sites, and other vital parameters. The structure was well conserved after the change, as evidenced by the characterisation. The toluene benzylation with benzyl alcohol using hierarchical mordenite and H-mordenite produced mono-benzylated toluene. Comparison between acid treated, base treated, and H-mordenite was done. All samples were catalytically active as proved by the catalytic result in the benzylation reaction. The results show that the base alteration dramatically enhances the mesoporous surface area of H-mordenite. Furthermore, the acid-treated mordenite had the highest benzyl alcohol conversion (75%), but the base-modified mordenite had benzyl alcohol conversion of 73% with the highest mono-benzylated toluene selectivity (61%). The process was further optimised by varying the reaction temperature, duration, and catalyst quantity. Gas chromatography (GC) was used to evaluate the reaction products and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to confirm them. Introduction of mesoporosity in the microporous mordenite was found to have significant effect on their catalytic activity.

DFT-based theoretical model for predicting the loading and release of pH-responsive paracetamol drug

Here, we provide a theoretical framework that integrates quantum mechanical calculations with classical pKa theory to forecast the degree of interaction of drug molecules with carrier surfaces across the whole pH range. The drug loading and release of a pH-responsive drug delivery system is demonstrated using paracetamol drug carried using mesoporous silica surface with and without trimethylammonium (TA) functional group. The model is explained on the basis of possible combinations of surface (S) and drug (D) molecules as neutral (0) and deprotonated (1) pH-dependent states. The relative probabilities of these states depend on the pKa values of the drug as well as surface and the desired pH. Paracetamol, an analgesic and antipyretic drug, is required to be absorbed in small intestine and not in the stomach. It’s seen that Paracetamol is caught in the MSN-TA nano-vehicle when it goes throughthe acidic environment of the stomach and then released in the slightly basic pH of the intestine. The reported model from the literature is used for forecasting the loading and release pH for the Paracetamol using mesoporous silica surface.

Enhancement of catalytic and anti-carbon deposition performance of SAPO-34/ZSM-5/quartz films in MTA reaction by Si/Al ratio regulation

In order to further improve the catalytic performance of zeolite catalyst for methanol to aromatics (MTA) technology, the double-tier SAPO-34/ZSM-5/quartz composite zeolite films were successfully synthesized via hydrothermal crystallization. The Si/Al ratio of SAPO-34 film was used as the only variable to study this material. The composite zeolite material with 0.6 Si/Al ratio of SAPO-34 has the largest mesoporous specific surface area and the most suitable acid distribution. The catalytic performance for the MTA process showed that 0.6-SAPO-34/ZSM-5/quartz film has as high as 50.3% BTX selectivity and 670 min lifetime. The MTA reaction is carried out through the path we designed to effectively avoid the hydrocarbon pool circulation of ZSM-5 zeolite, so as to improve the aromatics selectivity and inhibit the occurrence of deep side reactions to a great extent. The coke deposition behavior was monitored by TG and GC-MS, it is found that with the increase of Si/Al ratio, the active intermediates changed from low-substituted methylbenzene to high-substituted methylbenzene, which led to the rapid deactivation of the catalyst. This work provides a possibility to employ the synergy effect of composite zeolite film synthesizing anti-carbon deposition catalyst in MTA reaction.

Metal organic framework supported surface modification of synthesized nickel/nickel oxide nanoparticles via controlled PEGylation for cytotoxicity profile against MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines via docking analysis

Metal organic framework, (MOFs) supported nanoparticles have proven a path for the treatment of various carcinomas to be effective against MCF-7 Breast cancer cell lines. Despite the globally widespread applications of nickel/nickel oxide nanoparticles, Ni/NiO@LAA_PEG NPs with surfactant Polyethylene glycol, (PEG) and l-Acsorbic acid, (LAA) as reducing agents in industrial, commercial, and biomedical fields, their response to human cells has not been elucidated. Hence in the reported article Ni/NiO@LAA_PEG NPs with an average size range of 75–80 nm was used to study their interaction with MCF-7 Breast cancer cell lines. So the best of our understanding this is the study related to MCF-7 Human Breast cancer cell lines to show cyto-genotoxicity of Ni/NiO@LAA_PEG NPs which seems mediated through MTT analysis with rising effect surface enhancement and indexed porosiveness for the interfacial advancement than standard drug Doxorubicin for their comparison to show their best effectivity to prepared Ni/NiO@LAA_PEG NPs.The theoretical performance was simulated using Gaussian-09@Autodock 4.2 with crystal preparation and docked with MCF-7 Human Breast cancer cell lines PDBs to show their correlation with wet method of preparation. The synthesized Ni/NiO@LAA_PEG NPs was characterized against UV/Vis spectroscopy for determination of peak pattern of 395 nm, the functional group analysis for the best binding of stretching with framed metal network of nanoparticles was to shown out their scissoring, wagging, and CH stretching, etc. at 661, 834 and 3425 cm−1respectively by FTIR analysis and an energy band gap of 2.2 eV for Ni/NiO@LAA_PEG NPs by optical studies. The mesopore range and surface area measurement was calculated with BET adsorption and BJH plot to find their coercivity and retentivity via adsorption-desorption curve for their best catalytic performance. The current interpretation of Ni 2p spectra of oxides and other compounds is based on charge transfer assignment of the main peak at 856.4 eV and broad satellite cantered at about 861 eV to the cd9 L and unscreened cd8 final state configurations.

Functionalized Biochars as Supports for Ru/C Catalysts: Tunable and Efficient Materials for γ-Valerolactone Production

Cotton stalks-based biochars were prepared and used to synthetize Ru-supported catalysts for selective production of γ-valerolactone from levulinic acid in aqueous media. Different biochars' pre-treatments (HNO3, ZnCl2, CO2 or a combination of them) were carried out to activate the final carbonaceous support. Nitric acid treatment resulted in microporous biochars with high surface area, whereas the chemical activation with ZnCl2 substantially increases the mesoporous surface. The combination of both treatments led to a support with exceptional textural properties allowing the preparation of Ru/C catalyst with 1422 m2/g surface area, 1210 m2/g of it being a mesoporous surface. The impact of the biochars' pre-treatments on the catalytic performance of Ru-based catalysts is fully discussed.

Mesoporous Zr-G-C3N4 Sorbent as an Exceptional Cu (II) Ion Adsorbent in Aquatic Solution: Equilibrium, Kinetics, and Mechanisms Study

A mesoporous Zr-G-C3N4 nanomaterial was synthesized by a succinct-step ultrasonication technique and used for Cu2+ ion uptake in the aqueous phase. The adsorption of Cu2+ was examined by varying the operating parameters, including the initial metal concentration, contact time, and pH value. Zr-G-C3N4 nanosorbent displays graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and ZrO2 peaks with a crystalline size of ~14 nm, as determined by XRD analysis. The Zr-G-C3N4 sorbent demonstrated a BET-specific surface area of 95.685 m2/g and a pore volume of 2.16 × 10−7 m3·g−1. Batch mode tests revealed that removing Cu (II) ions by the mesoporous Zr-G-C3N4 was pH-dependent, with maximal removal achieved at pH = 5. The adsorptive Cu2+ ion process by the mesoporous nanomaterial surface is well described by the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics model. The maximum adsorption capacity of the nanocomposite was determined to be 2.262 mol·kg−1 for a contact time of 48 min. The results confirmed that the fabricated mesoporous Zr-G-C3N4 nanomaterial is effective and regenerable for removing Cu2+ and could be a potent adsorbent of heavy metals from aqueous systems.

Polyamidoamine dendrite-tailored mesoporous nanosilica surfaces for high drug loading and controlled release

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been demonstrated as a promising candidate in drug delivery applications. With the ambition of enhancing their drug loading capacity and controlled release, in this innovative study, MSNs were tailored with polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers thereby exerting advantageous properties onto the surface of the nanoplatforms. MSNs were prepared by Stöber’s method, sequentially functionalised by amine groups, and respectively grafted with PAMAMs layer-by-layer. Morphology and characterisation of the nanoparticles were carried out through transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, thermogravimetric analysis, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Ninhydrin assay and zeta potential analysis were further employed to investigate the amine-modified nanomaterials. The drug loading and release profiles of particles were also studied. As a result, PAMAM-grafted MSNs, with the highest hydrodynamic size of 185.3 nm, exhibited high encapsulation efficiency (85.8%) and controlled release ability compared to conventional MSNs, suggesting that PAMAM-grafted MSNs would be a promising drug delivery system.

Cooperative Functionalities in Porous Nanoparticles for Seeking Extracellular DNA and Targeting Pathogenic Biofilms via Photodynamic Therapy.

Many pathogenic bacteria are getting more and more resistant against antibiotic treatment and even become up to 1.000× times more resilient in the form of a mature biofilm. Thus, one is currently prospecting for alternative methods for treating microbial infections, and photodynamic therapy is a highly promising approach by creating so-called reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by a photosensitizer (PS) upon irradiation with light. Unfortunately, the unspecific activity of ROS is also problematic as they are harmful to healthy tissue as well. Notably, one knows that uncontrolled existence of ROS in the body plays a major role in the development of cancer. These arguments create need for advanced theranostic materials which are capable of autonomous targeting and detecting the existence of a biofilm, followed by specific activation to combat the infection. The focus of this contribution is on mesoporous organosilica colloids functionalized by orthogonal and localized click-chemistry methods. The external zone of the particles is modified by a dye of the Hoechst family. The particles readily enter a mature biofilm where adduct formation with extracellular DNA and a resulting change in the fluorescence signal occurs, but they cannot cross cellular membranes such as in healthy tissue. A different dye suitable for photochemical ROS generation, Acridine Orange, is covalently linked to the surfaces of the internal mesopores. The spectral overlap between the emission of Hoechst with the absorption band of Acridine Orange facilitates energy transfer by Förster resonance with up to 88% efficiency. The theranostic properties of the materials including viability studies were investigated in vitro on mature biofilms formed by Pseudomonas fluorescens and prove the high efficacy.

Hydration states of europium(III) adsorbed on silicas with nano-sized pores

The confinement in small spaces influences the complicated reaction involving water molecules under electrostatic potentials at the solid–liquid interface. It is unclear, in particular, how the hydration state of metal ions adsorbed on the surface changes as a function of the pore size. This study analyzed the adsorption states of europium aqua ions (Eu3+) on mesoporous silicas with different pore distributions in comparison with nonporous silica using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. The parallel factor analysis was used to differentiate the contribution of different chemical species of Eu3+ to the fluorescence signal and determine the influence of the pore size on each chemical species. The results show that Eu3+ mainly form outer-sphere complexes with silica below pH 6, where Eu3+ adsorption is low. Within nano-sized pores, distortion of the hydration structure and a decrease in the hydration number were suggested in this pH range. As the concentration of the silicate ions derived from the dissolution of silica increases with increasing pH, Eu3+ form the silica/Eu3+/silicate ternary surface complexes. Within nano-sized pores, the concentration of silicate ions decreases due to the overlap of the electric double layer, which inhibits the formation of the ternary surface complex. Furthermore, at high pH, Eu3+ multinuclear complexes formed only on the mesoporous silica surface. This adsorption behavior specific to nano-sized pores could not be concluded by macroscopic adsorption experiments alone because the amount of Eu3+ adsorbed per unit surface area did not differ between the mesoporous and nonporous silicas. Consideration of the silicate complexes should be indispensable in future studies on the adsorption of lanthanide ions using mesoporous silica.

Mass transfer simulation on remazol brilliant blue R dye adsorption by optimized teak wood Based activated carbon

The reactive dye of remazol brilliant blue R (RBBR) can be toxic to aquatic ecosystems and humans. Hence, the objectives of this study were to optimize teak wood-based activated carbon (TWAC) via response surface methodology (RSM) to adsorb RBBR and to simulate the mass transfer process using Polymath software. The optimum conditions in preparing TWAC were discovered to be 470 Watt of radiation power, 6.40 min of radiation time, and 1.48 g/g of impregnation ratio (IR), resulting in RBBR uptakes of 83.97 mg/g and TWAC’s yield of 30.60%. Isotherm study revealed that the adsorption of RBBR onto TWAC was best described by the Langmuir model with maximum monolayer adsorption capacity, Qm of 337.55 mg/g. The kinetic data were best described by the Polymath Mass Transfer (PMT) model where the rate constant, kPTM was found to increase from 4.84 to 5.22 h−1 when RBBR initial concentration increased from 25 to 300 mg/L. The PMT model predicted the adsorption surface area, am to be 940.79 m2/g, which is highly accurate with the actual mesopores surface area of 983.25 m2/g. The RBBR molecules formed an attraction force with TWAC’s surface functional groups through hydrogen bond (cyclohexane), dipole–dipole force (polysulfides and terminal/medial alkyne), and ion–dipole force (phenol and hydroxy group). Thermodynamic parameters of ΔH°, ΔS°, ΔG°, and Ea were computed to be −3.55 kJ/mol (exothermic), 0.07 kJ/mol.K, −24.37 kJ/mol (spontaneous) and 21.23 kJ/mol (physisorption), respectively.

Synthesis of mesopore-dominated porous carbon with ultra-high surface area via urea-assisted KOH activation

A mesoporous porous carbon (PC-KOH + Urea) with ultra-high specific surface area (SSA) was prepared from steam exploded poplar through urea-assisted KOH activation. The obtained PC-KOH + Urea had an ultra-high SSA of 3316 m2 g−1 and a total pore volume (VT) of 1.96 cm3 g−1, much higher than that of PC-KOH and PC-Urea, produced by KOH and urea activation alone, respectively. Meanwhile, PC-KOH + Urea possessed extremely high mesopores surface area (Smeso) (2183 m2 g−1) and mesopore volume (Vmeso) (1.46 cm3 g−1). In addition, urea can also serve as nitrogen source to dope nitrogen into PC-KOH + Urea, resulting in nitrogen content of 3.29%. To study the effects of urea on pore-forming, thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and thermogravimetric infrared technology (TG-IR) were adopted. It can be assumed that the ultra-high SSA of PC-KOH + Urea was mainly attributed to the reactions between pyrolysis products of urea and carbon. With ultra-high SSA, mesopore-dominated structure, and nitrogen doping, PC-KOH + Urea exhibited a high specific capacitance of 335.3 F g−1 at current density of 0.5 A g−1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. In cyclic stability measurement, the capacitance retentions of PC-KOH + Urea were 99.6% after 4000 cycles. Thus, urea-assisted KOH activation was a feasible method to produce porous carbon with excellent performance.

Superior adsorption and removal of industrial dye from aqueous solution via magnetic silver metal-organic framework nanocomposite

ABSTRACT The indirect emission had a negative influence on the ecosystem of enormous amounts of harmful dyes into water. Fe3O4@Ag-MOF was successfully fabricated to capture Gentine violet (GV)) as a model example of cationic dye from their aqueous solutions was evaluated in this search as a method to eliminate dyes from water contaminants. FTIR, XPS, BET, TGA, SEM, TEM, and XRD have all been used to study this adsorbent in order to determine its structural and chemical characteristics as well as to interpret its binding mechanisms. According to the results of the characterization, the synthesized composite had a size about 45 nm, a surface area of 856.06 m2/g, and considerable magnetic characteristics (66.2 emug−1). Consequently, we created mesoporous surfaces that had a strong ability to interface and absorb GV dye. It is possible to use the pseudo-second order rate equation to characterize the kinetic profile., while the Langmuir equation fits isotherm models. At pH 9, maximum sorption capacities can reach 1.68 mmol.g−1. Additionally, the investigations of temperature profiles indicated the endothermic process and Thermodynamic parameters were discovered as, ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS° The synthesized adsorbent had an interestingly high reusability of > 92 percent up to the sixth cycle. These findings revealed that a mixture of electrostatic interactions, π-π stacking, hydrogen bonds, and pore filling were involved in the GV adsorption mechanism. Fe3O4@Ag-MOF was successful in demonstrating its effectiveness as a point-of-use colour collection candidate from actual dyeing effluents.

Optimization and mass transfer simulation of remazol brilliant blue R dye adsorption onto meranti wood based activated carbon

Remazol brilliant blue R dye (RBBR) brings toxicity to living organisms once it enters the environment. This study utilized response surface methodology (RSM) and Polymath software for optimization and mass transfer simulation purposes, respectively. RSM revealed that the optimum preparation conditions of meranti wood-based activated carbon (MWAC) were 441 W, 5.76 min, and 1.35 g/g for radiation power, radiation time, and KOH:char impregnation ratio (IR), respectively, which translated into 86.39 mg/g of RBBR uptakes and 31.94 % of MWAC’s yield. The simulation study predicted the mass transfer rate, rm to be 112.20 to 1007.50 s−1 and the adsorption rate, k1 to be 3.96 to 4.34 h−1. The developed model predicted the adsorption surface area, am to be 790.04 m2/g and this value is highly accurate as compared to the actual mesopores surface area of 825.58 m2/g. Mechanism analysis divulged that the interaction that occurred between RBBR molecules and MWAC’s surface were hydrogen bond (methylene and alkyne), dipole–dipole force (alkyl carbonate, terminal alkyne, and methoxy), and ion–dipole force (primary amine). The isotherm and kinetic studies found that the adsorption data obeyed the Freundlich model and pseudo-first-order (PFO) model the best, respectively. The Langmuir maximum adsorption capacity, Qm was computed to be 327.33 mg/g. Thermodynamic parameters were calculated to be −4.06 kJ mol−1, 0.06 kJ mol−1 K−1, –22.69 kJ mol−1, and 16.03 kJ mol−1 for ΔH°, ΔS°, ΔG°, and Ea, respectively, which signified the adsorption process studied was exothermic, spontaneous and governed by physisorption.

Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine B using one-pot synthesized nickel oxide grafted glycine (NiO @GLY) nanostructured: Oxygen vacancies effect

A venerable challenge in environmental and materials science is the degradationof organic contaminants from wastewater using visible-light irradiation. The nickel oxide nanocomposite was synthesized using the facile one-pot combustion method at 550 °C. XRD, TEM, and N2 Sorption analysis confirmed the existence of mesoporous textured surfaces. Both spherical and hexagonal nanocrystals were produced with particle sizes ranging from 30 to 56 nm. The hexagonal nanocrystals appeared by increasing the glycine loading. The particle size of as-synthesized NiO @GLY was about 5–16 nm, with spherical morphology. The as-prepared hybrid composites were used to degrade harmful dyes. These produced systems seem to be governed by the interaction involving negatively charged nickel oxide nanoparticles and the amino group of glycine, as evidenced by zeta potential management. The degradation mechanism was found to follow the pseudo-first-order kinetics. S4 shows a promising result with degradation efficiency of 99 % methylene blue, 96 % rhodamine B, and 93 % for the mixed dye. The enhancement is related to oxygen vacancies, which support the photocatalyst's activity and stability.

Nucleolin recognizing silica nanoparticles inhibit cell proliferation by activating the Bax/Bcl-2/caspase-3 signalling pathway to induce apoptosis in liver cancer.

Multifunctional nanocarrier platforms have shown great potential for the diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer. Here, a novel nucleolin-responsive nanoparticle platform was constructed for the concurrent detection of nucleolin and treatment of liver cancer. The incorporation of AS1411 aptamer, icaritin (ICT) and FITC into mesoporous silica nanoparticles, labelled as Atp-MSN (ICT@FITC) NPs, was the key to offer functionalities. The specific combination of the target nucleolin and AS1411 aptamer caused AS1411 to separate from mesoporous silica nanoparticles surface, allowing FITC and ICT to be released. Subsequently, nucleolin could be detected by monitoring the fluorescence intensity. In addition, Atp-MSN (ICT@FITC) NPs can not only inhibit cell proliferation but also improve the level of ROS while activating the Bax/Bcl-2/caspase-3 signalling pathway to induce apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, our results demonstrated that Atp-MSN (ICT@FITC) NPs had low toxicity and could induce CD3+ T-cell infiltration. As a result, Atp-MSN (ICT@FITC) NPs may provide a reliable and secure platform for the simultaneous identification and treatment of liver cancer.

κ-Carrageenan/Sodium Alginate: A New Synthesis Route and Rapid Adsorbent for Hydroxychloroquine Drug

In recent years, the huge amounts of chemicals that are used as drugs and their derivatives have been exposed to the environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these drugs (i.e. hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)) have a serious risk on aquatic media. In this study, carrageenan/sodium alginate (κC/Sa) was investigated as a biopolymer, environmentally friendly, and rapidly adsorbent to eliminate HCQ from its aqueous solution. The biopolymer (κC/Sa) was synthesized by free radical polymerization assisted by ultrasound in the presence of acrylic acid as cross-linkage and potassium persulfate as an initiator. The natural κC/Sa was characterized by FTIR, XRD, BET, BJH, and SEM techniques. The produced co-polymer had a mesoporous surface with high purity and significant thermal stability. The best parameters were determined to be 0.05 g biopolymer, 200 ppm initial HCQ concentration, salts, and pH = 7. The adsorption mechanism follows a pseudo second-order kinetic model, and the adsorption isotherm follows a Freundlich model, with qe reaching 89.8 mg/g at 500 ppm HCQ. Thermodynamic studies indicated that the adsorption of hydroxychloroquine drugs was an exothermic spontaneous process.