Research on the interaction between surfactants and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) has mainly focused on the interaction between CNC and conventional surfactants, and there are no reported studies on the interaction between CNC and gemini surfactants. The interactions between CNC and conventional surfactant (tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide, termed as TTAB), asymmetric gemini surfactant ([C14H29(CH3)2N+(CH2)6N+(CH3)2C6H13]Br (14-6-6)) or symmetric gemini surfactant ([C14H29(CH3)2N+(CH2)6N+(CH3)2C14H29]Br2 (14-6-14)) were examined. With increasing surfactant concentration, interaction of TTAB/CNC was described by three regions, i.e. electrostatic interaction, CNC induced micellization and dilution of free micelles. However, in the case of gemini surfactant/CNC, four binding regimes were observed, i.e. cooperative adsorption, CNC induced micellization, formation and dilution of free micelles. The behavior of 14-6-6/CNC was similar to 14-6-14/CNC where CNC promoted the partition of gemini surfactant to the air-water interface at high surfactant concentration, while it was inhibited at low surfactant concentration. At low CNC concentration, micellization induced by CNC and aggregation of surfactant/CNC complexes were absent. pH had a minimal impact on the binding process at low CNC concentration, but it affected the binding at higher CNC concentration. Additionally, the presence of electrolytes influenced the micellization process induced by CNC by reducing the electrostatic interactions.

Ink formulations containing a suspension of single-crystalline molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets suspended in the polymeric semiconductor poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) were inkjet printed for the fabrication of thin-film transistors (TFT). The MoS2 nanosheets were treated with the surfactant trichloro(dodecyl)silane (DDTS) to functionalize the MoS2 surface and created a more stable suspension, reducing the agglomeration of MoS2 suspended in the P3HT solution. This ink formulation was inkjet printed onto the surface of thermal oxide coated, p+-Si wafers to form common-gate TFT device structures. The printed semiconductor formed the active region of a hybrid MoS2 suspension in P3HT of the TFTs. The field-effect mobility for the hybrid-ink TFTs was found to be three times (3x) higher compared to reference devices using pristine P3HT without the suspension. The functionalized MoS2 suspension was also found to form thinner nanosheet suspensions within the P3HT matrix that resulted in approximately 60% higher field-effect mobility compared to hybrid inks without the surfactant. The enhancement of the electrical properties of the TFTs was determined to be due to a structural change in the thin-film semiconductor. The observed current-voltage (I-V) changes were correlated to measurable structural alterations in the semiconductor thin film characterized by x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy.

Most existing image captioning evaluation metrics focus on assigning a single numerical score to a caption by comparing it with reference captions. However, these methods do not provide an explanation for the assigned score. Moreover, reference captions are expensive to acquire. In this paper, we propose FLEUR1, an explainable reference-free metric to introduce explainability into image captioning evaluation metrics. By leveraging a large multi-modal model, FLEUR can evaluate the caption against the image without the need for reference captions, and provide the explanation for the assigned score. We introduce score smoothing to align as closely as possible with human judgment and to be robust to user-defined grading criteria. FLEUR achieves high correlations with human judgment across various image captioning evaluation benchmarks and reaches state-of-the-art results on Flickr8k-CF, COMPOSITE, and Pascal-50S within the domain of reference-free evaluation metrics. Our source code and results are publicly available at: https://github.com/Yebin46/FLEUR.

In this study, carbon coating was carried out by physical vapor deposition (PVD) on SiOx surfaces to investigate the effect of the deposited carbon layer on the performance of lithium-ion batteries as a function of the asphaltene content of petroleum residues. The petroleum residue was separated into asphaltene-free petroleum residue (ASF) and asphaltene-based petroleum residue (AS) containing 12.54

Abstract Solar-driven evaporation offers a sustainable solution for water purification, but efficiency losses due to heat dissipation and fouling limit its scalability. Herein, we present a bilayer-structured solar evaporator (SDWE) with dynamic fluidic flow mechanism, designed to ensure a thin water supply and self-cleaning capability. The porous polydopamine (PDA) layer on a nickel skeleton provides photothermal functionality and water microchannels, while the thermo-responsive sporopollenin layer on the bottom acts as a switchable water gate. Using confocal laser microscopy and micro-CT, we demonstrate that this unique structure ensures a steady supply of thin water layers, enhancing evaporation by minimizing latent heat at high temperatures. Additionally, the system initiates a self-cleaning process through bulk water convection when temperature drops due to salt accumulation, thus maintaining increased evaporation efficiency. Therefore, the optimized p-SDWE sample achieved a high evaporation rate of 3.58 kg m−2 h−1 using 93.9% solar energy from 1 sun irradiation, and produces 18–22 liters of purified water per square meter of SDWE per day from brine water. This dynamic water transport mechanism surpasses traditional day-night cycles, offering inherent thermal adaptability for continuous, high-efficiency evaporation.

Solar-driven evaporation has emerged as a sustainable approach for water generation and purification. However, the undesirable heat loss leads to low energy conversion efficiency that limits water generation and impedes the scalability of this technology. Here, we developed a bilayer-structured solar evaporator (SDWEs) by engineering the fluidic flow within two water transport channels. A porous polydopamine (PDA) coating layer served as photothermal section and water supply microchannels, while the thermo-responsive sporopollenin layer on the bottom skeleton of the foam acted as a switchable water gating layer. Through confocal laser microscopy and micro-CT characterization, we demonstrated that this structural design enabled the selective and directional water transport. Noteworthy, this unique fluidic flow could facilitate the continuous supply of thin water layers and reduce the latent heat required for water evaporation. Therefore, the optimized p-SDWE sample achieved a high-water evaporation rate of 3.58 kg m−2 h−1 using 93.9% solar energy from 1 sun irradiation, and successfully delivered 18–22 liters of purified water per square meter of SDWE per day when treating brine water. This work elucidated the functions of water transport at the interface within the solar evaporator and presented a novel strategy for high-performance solar-driven water generation.

The paper focuses on the technical application of polymeric nanofiber materials. It introduces the usage of linear nanofiber structures, e.g. nanoyarns, for producing filter candles with the capacity of water or air filtration. The research focuses on producing composite nanofibrous yarn containing a micro-fibre core covered with a nanofiber sheath prepared by the highly effective technology: electrospinning in alternating electric field (AC electrospinning). The core of the composite yarn is used to provide sufficient mechanical strength, while the nanofibrous sheath offers an additional function, e.g. for advanced filtering capacity. The filter cartridges are made using a unique winding device, enabling the production of filters of various sizes as well as with different winding parameters. At the same time, the production line is designed to eliminate any mechanical or chemical irregularities in the nanofiber sheath. The work describes the technology of production of core nanoyarn with polyester core fibres and poly-vinyl-butyral nanofibrous cover wounds on filter cartridges. The filter cartridges were measured on a custom-made laboratory setup. Experimental tests of microplastic filtration with various sizes confirmed the filter efficiency for this application. Based on measurement results, filter cartridges with different structural as well as material compositions are discussed and suggested. Filters based on natural and biodegradable materials as the next step in the research of the usage of sustainable nanotechnologies are also discussed in the paper.

In this study, an atomic layer etching (ALE) process for molybdenum was developed in two steps: plasma oxidation and plasma chlorination. In the plasma oxidation step, molybdenum was oxidized with oxygen plasma to form molybdenum oxide. As the plasma oxidation time increased, the atomic ratio of O-to-Mo, determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, increased, and then saturated to a value of 2.3. The oxidation depth of molybdenum was found to increase with increasing oxidation temperature—from 3.0 nm at 40 °C to 22.0 nm at 300 °C. It also increased with increasing RF (radio frequency) power—from 2.0 nm at 5 W to 5.5 nm at 25 W. In the plasma chlorination step, it is believed that molybdenum oxide was removed from the surface by forming molybdenum oxychloride (MoOCl2, MoOCl4, and MoO2Cl2) in chlorine plasma in the temperature range of 40–300 °C. The etch per cycle (EPC) continuously increased at temperatures above 100 °C; however, at temperatures below 40 °C, it was saturated. The RF power increased the EPC from 2.2 to 5.8 nm/cycle in the range of 5–25 W. It was found that the removal depth matched the oxidation depth at each RF power in ALE at 40 °C. The atomic composition of molybdenum after ALE was almost identical to that before ALE. This study demonstrates that the ALE of molybdenum at 40 °C can be realized by sequential plasma oxidation and chlorination.

There is a growing interest in the synthesis of electrically conductive cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) for advanced applications, such as supercapacitor, batteries, sensor, and printed electronics. CNC is recognized as an attractive template for the fabrication of functional nanomaterials. Since CNC possesses many attractive properties, it is a sustainable template to prepare conductive nanomaterials, by either coating it with a conductive material or transforming it into carbon nanorods. This review summarizes the utilization of a sustainable and low-cost CNC to produce conductive nanocomposites via an environmentally friendly process. Electroconductive CNCs with enhanced electrical properties, lower electrical percolation threshold, and better mechanical properties can be produced and are attractive systems for many new applications.

Sensitive strain sensors (an important component of soft robotics, wearable devices, and biomedical electronics) with high sensitivity, stretchability, and long-term stability are still challenging. A sensitive, stretchable, and sustainable sensor using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) ( PEDOT) coated cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) with poly(vinyl alcohol)/glycerol (PVA/Gly) composite is proposed. The low cost and sustainable PEDOT coated CNC with high aspect ratio lowered the electrical percolation threshold that significantly improved the electrical conductivity leading to better sensitivity (gauge factor = 21.25) compared to the PEDOT applied film without CNC (gauge factor = 9.35). The exceptional stretchability of up to 500% and a low Young's modulus with long-term stability exceeding 3 months are due to the glycerol plasticizer. The fabricated sensors possessed outstanding real-time strain sensing capability for a series of human motions, including complex joint bending motions, subtle muscle motions, wrist pulse, and excellent self-healing ability. This effective green strategy for preparing a highly stretchable conductive composite addresses current limitations in strain sensor preparation and offers a sustainable approach to sensor design and development.

The oxidation of chloride ions (Cl−) to oxidized chlorine species (chlorine/hypochlorous acid/hypochlorite) is emerging as a promising alternative to the oxygen evolution reaction because it has a lower overpotential than the latter, and can also produce value-added anodic products. Here, an ultrathin multilayer electrode (Sb-SnO2/IrTaOx/TiO2 nanotube (TNT)) has been fabricated by simple dipping and electrodeposition methods for the production of hypochlorous acid by Cl− oxidation. The use of non-noble metal-based electrodes significantly reduced the use of noble metals and increased the selectivity for Cl− oxidation even at the neutral pH and low concentration of NaCl, resulting in the reduction of cost and energy consumption. The nanotube structure of Sb-SnO2/IrTaOx/TNT affords an increased active surface area and loading amounts of the catalysts compared to the structure of the flat electrodes, making the Sb-SnO2/IrTaOx/TNT more efficient than flat electrodes for Cl− oxidation. The Faradaic efficiency of Sb-SnO2/IrTaOx/TNT for Cl− oxidation was ∼95%, indicating that water oxidation was almost suppressed. Compared to the commercial dimensionally stable anode (DSA), the overpotential of Sb-SnO2/IrTaOx/TNT for water oxidation is much larger than for Cl− oxidation, therefore, the Sb-SnO2/IrTaOx/TNT could exhibit the high selectivity for Cl− oxidation by suppressing the competitive water oxidation.

Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) gold nanoshell was prepared using a polymer-coated CNC as a template. A seed-mediated shell growth approach (ex situ) was employed, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of two sizes were prepared, and the effect of the size of AuNP on the shell quality (smoothness, evenness, and continuity) was elucidated. Additionally, a novel one-pot synthesis approach (in situ) was evaluated for the preparation of the gold nanoshell, where polymer-coated CNCs with adsorbed ascorbic acid were used to reduce Au ions to form a metallic gold shell on CNC. The surface coverage was manipulated by adding different amounts of plating solutions. The formation and morphology of gold nanoshells were evaluated by zeta potential measurements, dynamic light scattering, UV-vis spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The catalytic performance of the CNC-gold nanostructures for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) was governed by the surface area of gold shells.

We successfully prepared ZnFe2O4 nanorods (ZFO-NRs) by a simple thermochemical reaction of FeOOH nanorods with Zn(NO3)(2) to use as an anode material in lithium-ion batteries. The FeOOH nanorod shape was well maintained after conversion into ZFO-NR with the formation of porous structures. The nanorod structure and porous morphology facilitate Li+ transport, improve the reaction rates owing to the larger contact area with the electrolyte, and reduce the mechanical stress during lithiation/delithiation. The ZFO-NR electrode exhibited a reversible capacity of 725 mA h g(-1) at 1 A g(-1) and maintained a capacity of 668 mA h g(-1) at 2 A g(-1); these capacities are much higher and more stable than those of ZFO nanoparticles prepared by a hydrothermal method (ZFO-HT) (216 and 117 mA h g(-1) at 1 and 2 A g(-1), respectively). Although ZFO-NRs exhibited high, stable capacities at moderate current densities for charging and discharging, the capacity rapidly decreased under fast charging/discharging conditions (>4 A g(-1)). However, carbonized ZFO-NR (C/ZFO-NR) exhibited an improved reversible capacity and rate capability resulting from an increased conductivity compared with ZFO-NRs. The specific capacity of C/ZFO-NRs at 1 A g(-1) was 765 mA h g(-1); notably, a capacity of 680 mA h g(-1) was maintained at 6 A g(-1).

Micro- and nanoparticle-supported lipid assemblies have significant potential for being used in biology and medicine for sensing, mimicking cellular membranes, and delivering drugs or cosmetic agents. Here, we introduce a new type of nanohydrogels based on the modification of a polysaccharide with lipid moieties, followed by the formation of nanoparticles and assembling lipid bilayers on the particle surfaces. The lipophilic compound 1,2-ditetradecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DMPE) and the UV-crosslinkable methacrylic anhydride were covalently attached to hyaluronic acid (HA) and the formation of hydrogel nanoparticles via a surfactant-free inverse emulsion mechanism was demonstrated. As an anchoring group, the lipophilic DMPE moiety enables the formation of hydrogel nanoparticles with a spherical morphology in nonpolar media and allows for the stable assembly of lipid bilayers bearing amphiphiles on HA nanohydrogel surfaces. The conjugated oligoelectrolyte, 4,4′-bis[4′-(N,N-bis(6″-(N,N,N-trimethylammonium)hexyl)amino)styryl] stilbene tetraiodide (DSSN+), was incorporated into the nanohydrogel-supported lipid bilayers, resulting in the formation of stable multilamellar peripheral vesicular structures due to the similarity in chemical structure of DMPE and the assembled lipid molecules.

Phase separation in films of phospholipids and conjugated polymers results in nanoassemblies because of a difference in the physicochemical properties between the hydrophobic polymers and the polar lipid heads, together with the comparable polymer side-chain lengths to lipid tail lengths, thus producing nanoparticles of conjugated polymers upon disassembly in aqueous media by the penetration of water into polar regions of the lipid heads.

We show that Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between a conjugated oligoelectrolyte based on distyrylstilbene (DSSN+) and Nile red can enhance photocurrent generation when the photoagents are assembled vertically on gold electrodes. DSSN+ and Nile red intercalated into phospholipid membranes of unilamellar vesicles were found to form a useful FRET system because of the solvatochromic properties of DSSN +, and the accompanying photophysical properties were suitable for FRET with Nile red. As a result, a FRET efficiency of 93-94% was achieved, as shown by steady-state and time-resolved spectra in vesicle solutions. When Nile red was tethered in a self-assembled monolayer of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) on gold electrodes and phospholipid-assembled DSSN+ was sequentially organized on the MUA layer, the anodic photocurrent increased notably, reaching about 815 nA/cm(2) by virtue of FRET between the vertically aligned dyes.

Reduced tungsten bronze nanoparticles of ternary and quaternary compounds were prepared by adding sodium and cesium to crystal structures of tungsten trioxides (NaxCs0.33-xWO3, x = 0, 0.11) while maintaining the overall alkali metal fraction at 0.33, in an attempt to control near infrared (NIR) shielding property in the particular wavelength range of 780 to 1200 nm. The structure and composition analysis of the quaternary compound, Na0.11Cs0.22WO3, revealed that 93.1% of the hexagonal phase was formed, suggesting that both alkali metals were mainly inserted in hexagonal channel. The NIR shielding property for Na0.11Cs0.22WO3 was remarkable, as this material demonstrated efficient transmittance of visible light up to 780 nm and enhancement in NIR shielding because of the blue-shifted absorption maximum in comparison to Cs0.33NO3.