Skeleton Structure Research Articles

Recent progress in soft robots: principles, designs, and applications

Abstract With advancements in the manufacturing industry persisting, soft robots have experienced rapid development, progressively emerging as a pivotal focus in the future trajectory of robotic technology. As a new type of robot technology, soft robots have significant differences from traditional robots in terms of principles, driving methods, design control, and other aspects. Here, we sort out and summarize the latest developments in soft robotics. Firstly, typical principles and driving methods were introduced, including rope drive, variable stiffness drive (gas negative pressure, intelligent fluids, etc), electromagnetic drive, and so on. Secondly, the main materials and characteristics of soft robots are analyzed, including hydrogels, shape memory alloys, photosensitive materials, electromagnetic rheological elastomer, biodegradable materials, etc. Then, typical soft robot structures and processing methods were introduced, including fluid static skeleton structures, muscle fluid static skeleton structures, and others. Finally, the problems of soft robots are analyzed, and the future development direction and importance are summarized. This paper highlights the recent progress in smart functional materials, typical biomimetic structures, and assembly methods applicable to soft robots, which is expected to assist the development and advancement of the next generation of soft robots.

Aggregate migration and self-organisation properties of asphalt mixtures during compaction process

The objective of this investigation is to analyze the migration behaviours and self-organisation properties of aggregate-asphalt particle system. The three-dimensional discrete element dynamic compaction model was established, and the accuracy and reliability were validated by self-developed particle migration tracking test. The evaluation indices of aggregate particles was measured to investigate the migration behaviours of aggregates and its evolution law. The self-organisation behaviours of aggregate-asphalt particle system were explored combined with the contact behaviours. The results indicate that the migration process of aggregate particles can be delimited into three stages of compaction degree lower than 50%, from 50% to 70%, and above 70%. The larger the aggregate size, the more significant the rotation migration. Under the combined effect of migration and contact, the coarse aggregates migrate to find stable contact points to self-organize the skeleton structure. Asphalt mortar fills the voids eliminated to self-organize the dense structure.

Medicinally Significant Enantiopure Compounds from Garcinia Acid Isolated from Garcinia gummi-gutta

Garcinia gummi-gutta, commonly known as Garcinia cambogia (syn.), is a popular traditional herbal medicine known for its role in treating obesity, and has been incorporated into several nutraceuticals globally for this purpose. The fruit rind is also used as a food preservative and a condiment because of its high content of hydroxycitric acid, which imparts a sharp, sour flavour. This review highlights the major bioactive compounds present in the tree Garcinia gummi-gutta, with particular emphasis on (2S, 3S)-tetrahydro-3-hydroxy-5-oxo-2,3-furan dicarboxylic acid, commonly referred to as garcinia acid. This acid can be isolated in large amounts through a simple procedure. Additionally, it explores the synthetic transformations of garcinia acid into biologically potent and functionally useful enantiopure compounds, a relatively under-documented area in the literature. This acid, with its six-carbon skeleton, a γ-butyrolactone moiety, and two chiral centres bearing chemically amenable functional groups, offers a versatile framework as a chiron for the construction of diverse molecules of both natural and synthetic origin. The synthesis of chiral 3-substituted and 3,4-disubstituted pyrrolidine-2,5-diones, analogues of the Quararibea metabolite—a chiral enolic-γ-lactone; the concave bislactone skeletons of fungal metabolites (+)-avenaciolide and (−)-canadensolide; the structural skeletons of the furo[2,3-b]furanol part of the anti-HIV drug Darunavir; (−)-tetrahydropyrrolo[2,1-a]isoquinolinones, an analogue of (−)-crispine A; (−)-hexahydroindolizino[8,7-b]indolones, an analogue of the naturally occurring (−)-harmicine; and furo[2,3-b]pyrroles are presented here.

Incorporating parrotfish bioerosion into the herbivory paradigm of coral reef resilience

AbstractPromoting resilience is highly relevant to preserving biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. For coral reefs, parrotfish protection emerged as a mainstream action for reversing the degradation experienced by these systems. The rationale is that restoring their populations will increase grazing activity and reinforce control of fast‐growing macroalgae, facilitating coral cover recovery. A lack of a link between parrotfish trends and macroalgae and coral cover trends at a large scale has, however, often been the case. Suggesting more complex underlying dynamics that should be reexamined. In this review, we discuss how lumping parrotfish species as if they were functionally redundant may obscure trends. And how a lack of appreciation of other functions around the parrotfish paradigm, specifically bioerosion, may have unforeseen and potentially adverse effects on degraded reefs. We show that bioerosion responded more directly and quickly to spatial and temporal changes in parrotfish assemblages than macroalgae consumption, arguably due to the varying vulnerability among Caribbean parrotfishes to fisheries and habitat loss. For highly degraded reefs, positive changes in parrotfish populations could hence compromise the remaining coral skeleton structures and the reef framework, further accentuating reef degradation, where increases in macroalgae consumption could not necessarily compensate for higher rates of bioerosion.

Enhancing heat dissipation for laser illumination by utilizing the phosphor in metal combined with vapor chamber (PiMCVC)

Laser-driven illumination has unique advantages in high-power applications. However, the low thermal conductivity of the phosphor converter and high-power density of the laser result in a serious heat dissipation problem. Although the thermal conductivity has been improved in the previous work, the heat transferred from the facula cannot be further dissipated. Herein, a phosphor in metal combined with vapor chamber (PiMCVC) was proposed. A copper foam skeleton structure (CFSS) coated with boron nitride (BN) was welded to an ultra-thin vapor chamber (UTVC). The heat dissipated from the facula can be transferred through the CFSS. The heat dissipation area is significantly enlarged by the UTVC. The facula central temperature of PiMCVC can be maintained below 107.0 °C under a load of 4.92 W while that of the reference sample is 530.18 °C. Even at a laser load of 11.58 W, the PiMCVC can still work normally with a luminous flux of 1568.37 lm. Due to the superior thermal management, under the laser power of 9.20 W, the PiMCVC sample can be stably operated for 720 min with a luminous flux of approximately 1150 lm and a CCT of about 4000 K. This work provides a new approach to the thermal management of high-power laser-driven illumination.

Hierarchical Keypoints Feature Alignment for Domain Adaptive Pose Estimation

Unsupervised Domain Adaptation (UDA) is a popular research topic in computer vision. One of the most common strategies in this field is to reduce domain shifts through global feature alignment. Unfortunately, we observe its failure on adaptive human pose estimation. From our analysis, we find out two major reasons: the extreme imbalance between keypoints and non-keypoints regions and the high diversity of human skeleton structures. To address these problems, we propose a simple yet effective approach named PoseDA. Our idea is to let the alignment focus on the feature of keypoint regions and enforce the model to learn domain-invariant representations for keypoint prediction. The key component of our PoseDA is a Hierarchical Feature Selection of Keypoints Regions (HFS) module, which consists of Coarse Feature Selection of Keypoints Regions (CFS) and Reliable Feature Selection of Keypoints Regions (RFS). By using HFS, we obtain reliable and compact keypoints features, allowing our model to achieve more effective feature alignment. Under three UDA scenarios, i.e. JTA→MPII, SURREAL→LSP, SURREAL→Human3.6, our PoseDA establishes new state-of-the-art performance. In particular, our PoseDA outperforms the previous best UDA methods by over 7% w.r.t. PCKh on JTA→MPII.

Enhanced sensitivity and broadband response in porous triple periodic minimal surface piezoresistive sensors for telemedicine applications

Wearable pressure sensors with outstanding performance have garnered significant attention in fields such as telemedicine. However, the development of sensors that achieve both adjustable high sensitivity and a wide response range remains a formidable challenge. To address these issues, we propose the development of a flexible piezoresistive sensor featuring simultaneous macro- and microstructures. This is achieved by constructing a complex macro-topological skeleton using Fused Deposition Molding (FDM) technology and integrating supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2) foaming technology for microscopic pore creation. The unique conductive network structure, coupled with the Triple Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) metamaterial framework and microscopic pore architecture, endows the piezoresistive sensors with exceptional sensing performance, including high sensitivity (12.13 MPa−1), a broad response range (exceeding 30 MPa), and long-term fatigue resistance (over 26,000 s cycles). In addition, the sensors are shielded from electromagnetic interference, with a maximum EMI shielding effectiveness of 53.2 dB for the TMFM with a thickness of 2.3 mm. The effects of varying porosities and foaming pressures on sensitivity were analyzed using finite element simulations. Owing to these remarkable features, multiple foot movement recognition was successfully demonstrated with volunteer participants by assembling sensing unit array modules. Based on this, an intelligent fall warning recognition system is developed using machine learning. This system accurately distinguishes four types of activity behaviors—standing, walking, spraining foot, and falling—with accuracy rates of 98.9 %, 97.1 %, 98.9 %, and 95.1 %, respectively. The system automatically generates an alarm pattern for detected fall behaviors. These findings suggest that the combination of TPMS skeleton and micropores structure offers a promising strategy for developing sensors with adjustable sensitivity and wide detection range for wearable devices. This technology holds significant potential for applications in telemedicine assistance, particularly for the elderly and other vulnerable populations.

Early Precambrian eclogites in the Belomorian Province, eastern Fennoscandian Shield

This study focuses on a boudin of Archean amphibolite that occurs in the Gridino eclogite-bearing mélange (Belomorian Province, eastern Fennoscandian Shield) and contains two varieties of eclogite. Eclogite-1 is banded, retrogressed (omphacite is totally replaced by clinopyroxene-plagioclase symplectite), and deformed by recumbent tight folds identical to those in the TTG-amphibolite host. Zircon groups are dated at 2721 ± 26 Ma (Zrn-I, fir-tree zoning, no or small negative Eu anomalies, flat HREE patterns, 700–730 °C, 14–15 kbar), ca. 2.70 Ga (Zrn-II, rims around Zrn-I, grains, 750–900 °C, 11–14 kbar, high-P granulite facies), and ca. 2.70 Ga (Zrn-III, rims around Zrn-II). Newly formed Paleoproterozoic zircon crystals are lacking. Retrogressed eclogite-1 in which amphibolization and epidotization totally obliterated garnet and plagioclase-clinopyroxene symplectites is intruded by 2646 ± 46 Ma old granodiorite. Eclogite-2 is massive, contains preserved omphacite-garnet-quartz-rutile assemblages, and comprises two patches whose boundaries truncate folds in eclogite-1. A Paleoproterozoic age of eclogite-2 is evidenced by previously published 1.90 Ga ages of zircon rims around Archean zircon and newly formed crystals with omphacite inclusions. The largest patch contains tabular enclaves of three varieties of amphibolites. One variety is identical to some bands of totally retrogressed eclogite-1 changed into monomineral amphibolites in both the Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic. The orientation and attitude of these tabular enclaves are coherent with those of the banding on limbs of recumbent tight folds in eclogite-1 within the boudin and later drag folds at its margins and form one and the same structural carcass or skeleton. These data along with recent findings of inherited 2.68 Ga old zircon with inclusions of omphacite in eclogite-2 indicate that this eclogite developed after Neoarchean eclogite-1 due to fluid infiltration along reactivated Neoarchean shear zones enveloping the boudin. These results favor the idea that the transition to the modern-style plate tectonics started not later than in the Neoarchean.

Anti-biofouling membrane coated with polyvinyl alcohol/sodium carboxymethylcellulose/tannic acid hydrogel for efficient dye/salt separation

Biofouling is the most severe challenge for separation membranes. In this study, a metal-organic framework (MOF)-based mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)/tannic acid (TA) hydrogel coating exhibited a comprehensive anti-biofouling property and high efficient for dye/salt separation. For the hydrogel layer, ethanol inhibited the cross-linking of the hydrogen bond between the PVA, CMC and TA, forming a uniform “hydrogel paint” applied to the membrane surface using the coating method. Subsequently, the hydrogen bond was re-established by evaporating the ethanol. The hydrogel coating could form a dense hydrated layer, endowing the membrane with excellent anti-fouling properties, including oil, proteins, and bacteria. For the MOF-based MMMs layer, the skeleton structure of polyvinylidene fluoride anchored the bimetallic MOF crystals to mitigate the phenomenon of “trade-off”. The hydrogel-coated MOF-based MMMs showed excellent properties, such as the water permeability was ~200 Lm−2 h−1, the rejection for Reactive Blue 19 was 100 %, the rejection for NaCl was 10.9 %, and it showed excellent stability for long-term service. Furthermore, the hydrogel-coated MOF-based MMMs presented a significant inhibitory effect on surface bacteria growth. In brief, this paper provided a new insight into preparing hydrogel-coated MOF-based MMMs, which had potential applications in separating dye/salt.

Synthesis of the ZrC whiskers and the ablation mechanism of the ZrC whisker-toughened ZrC coating

The ZrC coatings toughened by ZrC whiskers with different microstructures were prepared on C/C composites by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The formation mechanisms of the different morphologies of ZrC whiskers were investigated. The mechanical properties and the ablation properties under oxyacetylene flame of ZrC coatings were evaluated. The results showed that the introduction of ZrC whiskers significantly improved the adhesion to the C/C substrate and elastic modulus of ZrC coatings. The coatings exhibited a denser oxide layer after ablation than before ZrC whiskers addition due to the forming of the ZrO2 skeleton structure, which provides a solid support to oxide layers. The linear ablation rate of the coating (-0.233 μm/s) decreased by 58.91% compared to the pure ZrC coating (-0.567 μm/s). Following detailed observation and characterization, a potential protective mechanism for ZrC whiskers was presented.

X-ray ghost imaging with a specially developed beam splitter.

X-ray ghost imaging with a crystal beam splitter has advantages in highly efficient imaging due to the simultaneous acquisition of signals from both the object beam and reference beam. However, beam splitting with a large field of view, uniform distribution and high correlation has been a great challenge up to now. Therefore, a dedicated beam splitter has been developed by optimizing the optical layout of a synchrotron radiation beamline and the fabrication process of a Laue crystal. A large field of view, consistent size, uniform intensity distribution and high correlation were obtained simultaneously for the two split beams. Modulated by a piece of copper foam upstream of the splitter, a correlation of 92% between the speckle fields of the object and reference beam and a Glauber function of 1.25 were achieved. Taking advantage of synthetic aperture X-ray ghost imaging (SAXGI), a circuit board of size 880 × 330 pixels was successfully imaged with high fidelity. In addition, even though 16 measurements corresponding to a sampling rate of 1% in SAXGI were used for image reconstruction, the skeleton structure of the circuit board can still be determined. In conclusion, the specially developed beam splitter is applicable for the efficient implementation of X-ray ghost imaging.

Unveiling correlations between aristolochic acids and liver cancer: spatiotemporal heterogeneity phenomenon.

Aristolochic acids are a class of naturally occurring compounds in Aristolochiaceae that have similar structural skeletons and chemical properties. Exposure to aristolochic acids is a risk factor for severe kidney disease and urinary system cancer. However, the carcinogenicity of aristolochic acids to the liver, which is the main site of aristolochic acid metabolism, is unclear. Although the characteristic fingerprint of aristolochic acid-induced mutations has been detected in the liver and aristolochic acids are known to be hepatotoxic, whether aristolochic acids can directly cause liver cancer is yet to be verified. This review summarizes the findings of long-term carcinogenicity studies of aristolochic acids in experimental animals. We propose that spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the carcinogenicity of these phytochemicals could explain why direct evidence of aristolochic acids causing liver cancer has never been found in adult individuals. We also summarized the reported approaches to mitigate aristolochic acid-induced hepatotoxicity to better address the associated global safety issue and provide directions and recommendations for future investigation.

Fe-MOF derived Fe3O4/C-based hydrogel for efficient solar-driven photothermal evaporation

Solar-driven interfacial photothermal evaporation (SIPE) has been considered as a green and sustainable technology for obtaining fresh water, and the exploring efficient photothermal materials is crucial. Nanocomposite derived from metal-organic framework exhibits high light absorption properties and excellent chemical stability, making it an ideal candidate in the SIPE. Herein, Fe3O4/C nanocomposite was obtained using MIL-101 (Fe) as a precursor, and Fe3O4/C-based porous hydrogel (Fe3O4/C-PH) was subsequently prepared through chemical crosslinking foaming polymerization. The obtained Fe3O4/C-PH exhibited an evaporation rate of 3.33 kg m−2 h−1 under one sun intensity. Fe3O4/C-PH demonstrated outstanding desalination and salting out resistance when treating real seawater. Moreover, it could remove over 99 % of dyes from wastewater. The photothermal mechanisms are molecular thermal vibration of C component and semiconductor relaxation of Fe3O4. Meanwhile, the hydrophilic and porous skeleton structure of the hydrogel ensure Fe3O4/C-PH to transport water rapidly and exhibit good light absorption properties. This research broadens the candidate of photothermal materials for applications in SIPE, and also provides new avenues for desalination and wastewater purification.

Natural Products from Marine-Derived Fungi with Anti-Inflammatory Activity.

Inflammation is considered as one of the most primary protective innate immunity responses, closely related to the body's defense mechanism for responding to chemical, biological infections, or physical injuries. Furthermore, prolonged inflammation is undesirable, playing an important role in the development of various diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and even certain cancers. Marine-derived fungi represent promising sources of structurally novel bioactive natural products, and have been a focus of research for the development of anti-inflammatory drugs. This review covers secondary metabolites with anti-inflammatory activities from marine-derived fungi, over the period spanning August 2018 to July 2024. A total of 285 anti-inflammatory metabolites, including 156 novel compounds and 11 with novel skeleton structures, are described. Their structures are categorized into five categories: terpenoids, polyketides, nitrogen-containing compounds, steroids, and other classes. The biological targets, as well as the in vitro and in vivo screening models, were surveyed and statistically summarized. This paper aims to offer valuable insights to researchers in the exploration of natural products and the discovery of anti-inflammatory drugs.

Exploring the graphitization transformation mechanism of deposited carbon in molten salt electrolysis: A novel insight from molecular structure models

Molten salt electrolysis graphitization is a novel method for the electrochemical graphitization, offering significant technological advantages. Researchers have shown keen interest in preparing graphite materials through molten salt strategies. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive research methodologies at the molecular scale for the removal of heteroatoms and rearrangement of carbon atoms in different amorphous carbon conversion systems. To address the above issue, the deposited carbon (DC, a coking byproduct) was converted into graphitized material (electrolysis products, EP) through the electrochemical method in this study. By processing Transmission Electron Microscope images with Python programming, aromatic skeleton structure information was quantitatively extracted. The evolution of the structure of DC was studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Based on information about elemental content, aromatic skeletal structure, and heteroatom functional groups, average chemical structure models were constructed for DC and EP, and relevant chemical bond parameters were statistically analyzed. Then, the influence of the electric field on the structural transformation of amorphous carbon in molten salts was investigated. The research results show that the electric field significantly affects the graphitization transformation process of amorphous carbon in molten salts, enhancing the interaction between calcium ions and DC molecules, increasing the diffusion coefficient of particles in the system, and promoting the formation of more sp2-hybridized carbon atoms, thus forming a more compact aromatic ring network. This study provides a new research method and molecular/atomic-level insights for a deeper understanding of the mechanism of graphitization transformation of amorphous carbon.

Nitrogen plasma-induced phase engineering and titanium carbide/carbon nanotubes dual conductive skeletons endow molybdenum disulfide with significantly improved lithium storage performance

MoS2/Ti3C2 MXene composite has emerged as a promising anode material for lithium storage due to the synergistic combination of high specific capacity offered by MoS2 and conductive skeleton provided by Ti3C2 MXene. However, its two-dimensional/two-dimensional (2D/2D) structure is susceptible to collapse after long cycles, while the inherent low conductivity of MoS2 limits its rate performance. In this study, we developed a novel approach combining plasma-induced phase engineering with dual skeleton structure design to fabricate a unique P-MoS2/Ti3C2/CNTs anode material featuring highly conductive 1T phase MoS2 and a stable one-dimensional/two-dimensional (1D/2D) architecture. Within this architecture, growth of MoS2 nanosheets on the surface of Ti3C2 cross-linked by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was achieved. The resulting Ti3C2/CNTs dual skeleton not only provides robust mechanical support to prevent structural collapse during long cycles but also offers increased specific surface area and additional Li+ storage space, thereby enhancing the lithium storage capacity of the composite. Subsequent N2 plasma treatment induced a phase transition in MoS2 from 2H to 1T configuration. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed that the induced 1T-MoS2 exhibits higher conductivity and lower Li+ diffusion barrier compared to 2H-MoS2. Benefiting from these synergistic effects, our P-MoS2/Ti3C2/CNTs anode demonstrated remarkable electrochemical performance including a high reversible specific capacity of 1120 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, excellent cycling stability with a specific capacity retention of 670 mAh g−1 after 600 cycles at 1 A/g, and superior rate performance with a specific capacity of 614 mAh g−1 at 2 A g−1. This combined modification strategy will serve as guidance for designing other energy storage materials.

N-doping of β-ketoenamine based covalent organic frameworks (COFs) for enhancing photocatalytic oxidation activity

β-ketoenamine-based COFs are widely investigated due to their high stability, good crystallinity and tunable skeleton structures. Nitrogen doping is one of the effective ways to enhance the catalytic activity of COFs. Herein, N-doping of β-ketoenamine-based (0N-TP-COF, 1N-TP-COF, 2N-TP-COF) COFs were successfully constructed by the Schiff base condensation reaction between 1,3,5-tiformylphloroglucinol (TP) and p-phenylenediamine containing different numbers of nitrogen atoms. Studies showed that the as-prepared COFs exhibited more suitable electronic structure and more electron-rich active sites with the increasing of N atoms. Furthermore, the photocatalytic performance of 4-formylphenylboronic acid transformation was 0N-TP-COF (99 %, 48 h) < 1N-TP-COF (99 %, 32 h) < 2N-TP-COF (99 %, 16 h), and the photocatalytic performance of benzylamine coupling was 0N-TP-COF (99 %, 16 h) < 1N-TP-COF (99 %, 3.5 h) <2N-TP-COF (99 %, 1.5 h), respectively. Note that all N-doping COFs have excellent catalytic activity as well as stability, and 2N-TP-COF exhibits the highest catalytic activity. This work demonstrates that doping of nitrogen atoms is an effective way to enhance photocatalytic performance.

FeCl3 induced catalytic activation prepared porous carbon with carbon nanotube skeleton from coal for supercapacitor electrodes

Poor conductivity and pore utilization of porous carbon (PC) have limited its use for supercapacitor electrodes. A simple FeCl3 induced catalytic KOH activation method was used to adjust the pore structure and graphitic carbon skeleton of coal-based PC. Under atmosphere of activation, the Fe component can be transformed into Fe3C, and then the Fe3C may act as catalysts for the deposition of activated gases, such as CO and CH4, to form carbon nanotubes (CNTs). As a result, the CNTs as graphite skeleton in situ growth in the PC (PC-CNTs), which enhances the conductivity and stability of the materials. The PC-CNTs sample shows hierarchical porous structure with surface area (SBET) of 2178.11 m2 g−1. As supercapacitor electrode, it exhibits a specific capacitance of 224.41 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1, and maintains 182.66 F g−1 at 10 A g−1. Furthermore, a PC-CNTs//PC-CNTs symmetrical supercapacitor retains 98 % of its initial capacitance after 20,000 cycles at 1 A g−1. This study employed in situ pyrolysis gas from coal as a carbon source to prepare CNTs for adjusting the pore structure and graphitization of PC, which provides new insights for the utilization of low-rank coal in supercapacitor applications.

Rapid ambient pressure drying preparation of bulk ZrO2-SiO2 aerogels with high thermal stability

In this study, the sol-gel stage co-precursor method was used to hydrophobically modify the gel and increase the content of alkali catalyst in the gel, thereby reducing the capillary force generated during ambient pressure drying and enhancing the strength of the gel skeleton. This improvement makes the gel skeleton structure not easy to destroy during the rapid drying process, thus greatly reducing the preparation time of atmospheric pressure drying, which could be as short as 10 h. It is worth mentioning that this method does not require extensive use of modifiers and organic solvents, so it has low cost, high efficiency, and broad industrial production application prospects. The experimental results show that the DDS/ZSA aerogel exhibits the lowest thermal conductivity (0.035 W m−1 K−1) when the dilute ammonia content is 5 ml. However, it should be noted that too low or too high an amount of dilute ammonia will lead to a decrease in aerogel performance, so it needs to be controlled within the appropriate range. In addition, the prepared aerogel has excellent hydrophobic properties with a contact angle greater than 140° and excellent thermal stability at 1000 °C, which can be used in harsh, humid, and high-temperature environments.

Post-synthetic modification fluorescence UiO-66-Eu immunochromatography for high-performance detection of sodium pentachlorophenoate

Sodium pentachlorophenate (PCP) is widely used as a herbicide, fungicide, or molluscicide. It is highly toxic, easily soluble in water, making it highly prone to diffusion and causing water and soil pollution. Through the food chain, it enters animal bodies and remains in food, causing toxicity to humans and animals. Therefore, establishing a rapid and simple detection method for PCP is crucial for human health and environmental protection. Herein, lanthanide metal Eu3+ was introduced into UiO-66-(COOH)2 by post-synthesis modification, and the nanomaterials prepared based on this method have the advantages of both UiO-66-(COOH)2 and Eu3+. The rigid skeleton structure of UiO-66-(COOH)2 can protect the activity of antibody, the detection environment pH tolerance range of UiO-66-Eu is 3–11. While Eu3+ has long fluorescence lifetime, high fluorescence intensity, high signal-to-noise ratio, and low photobleaching rate. UiO-66-Eu-based immunochromatography assay was successfully applied in PCP detection with the detection limits of 0.84, 0.98, and 0.37 μg/kg for pork, chicken, and shrimp, respectively, which was up to 10-fold more sensitive than the reported ICAs. The recoveries ranged from 79.7 %−113.1 %, with the coefficient of variation from 6.6 %−17.1 %. Parallel detection of 30 samples by LC-MS/MS showed a good correlation with that of our proposed method (R2 >0.98). This work not only provides a creative attempt for UiO-66-Eu based highly sensitive and strongly tolerant ICAs, but also guarantees human health and environmental protection.