RSC Advances

Lamarca, Rafaela Silva; Faria, Ricardo Adriano Dorledo de; Zanoni, Maria Valnice Boldrin; Nalin, Marcelo; Lima Gomes, Paulo Clairmont Feitosa de; Messaddeq, Younès

doi: 10.1039/c9ra09083epmid: 35494561

In this study an impedimetric immunosensor was developed in order to determine ciprofloxacin (CIP) in wastewater samples, an emergent contaminant widely found in wastewater. To achieve this, an anti-ciprofloxacin antibody was immobilized on the surface of a printed carbon electrode. Then, the developed immunosensor was applied in wastewater samples from Université Laval residences (Québec, Canada) through the load transfer resistance (Rct) using [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− as a redox probe, and the average CIP concentration was found to be 2.90 × 10−4 μg mL−1. The observed Rct changes presented a linear relationship from CIP concentrations of 10−5 to 1.0 μg mL−1, with detection and quantification limits of 2.50 × 10−6 and 7.90 × 10−6 μg mL−1, respectively. The immunosensor presented high selectivity and repeatability, as well as a good recovery rate in wastewater samples (97%). Significant interference with other compounds was not observed. The proposed method requires only 30 μL of sample without the use of organic solvents or preceding sample preparation and/or extraction techniques. Moreover, the method is fast: only 20 min of incubation followed by 2 min of analysis time was sufficient to obtain the CIP concentration. The method's estimated cost is U$ 2.00 per sample.

Cao, MengJing; Zhang, Yan; Zhang, BoKang; Liu, ZiQi; Ma, XiangShan; Chen, ChangMing

doi: 10.1039/c9ra07542apmid: 35494614

In this study, an outer surface modified polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane (HF-PVDF-CNT) was prepared by coating with dopamine (PD) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs), to solve the problems of the instability of pure CNT mats fabricated by filter coating methods and membrane fouling in wastewater treatment. The modified membrane was assessed and characterized by various methods, including studies of its top surface and cross-sectional morphology, wettability, functional groups and electrical conductivity. The CNT material stability was evaluated during backwashing. The antifouling and filtering abilities of the unmodified and modified membranes were tested by monitoring the change in TMP and the rejection performance for different contaminants during filtration in bovine serum albumin solution (BSA), sodium alginate solution (SA) and humic acid solution (HA). Furthermore, HF-PVDF-CNT and electro-assisted HF-PVDF-CNT membranes were employed as the basic separation units in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) system and an anaerobic electrochemical membrane bioreactor (AnEMBR) system, respectively. Characterization of the HF-PVDF-CNT membrane indicated that the CNT mats exhibited good stability, electrical conductivity and wettability. In filtration experiments using BSA, SA and HA solutions, the HF-PVDF-CNT membrane showed an obvious improvement compared with the HF-PVDF membrane in antifouling performance. During its application in the AnMBR and AnEMBR systems, the electro-assisted HF-PVDF-CNT membrane had greater effects than the HF-PVDF-CNT membrane on reducing fouling.

Deng, Yuanming; Zhao, Xiaoman; Luo, Junxuan; Wang, Zhong; Tang, Jiaoning

doi: 10.1039/c9ra09191bpmid: 35494580

Here we present a magnetic recyclable photo-Fenton catalyst CoFe2O4@PPy with uniform morphology and excellent dispersibility prepared via simple in situ Fenton oxidization polymerization. The CoFe2O4 core provides good magnetic recyclability for the catalysts as well as the ion source for catalyzed decomposition of H2O2 in PPy coating. The optimal catalytic effect can be obtained by adjusting the ratio of CoFe2O4 and PPy. Methylene blue, Methyl orange and Rhodamine B (RhB) employed as model pollutants certificated that the catalyst exhibits a wide range of photodegradability. The decoloration rates reach nearly 100% in the photodegradation of 10 mg L−1 RhB after 2 h visible-light irradiation and only low toxicity small molecules are detected by LC-MS. Moreover, the catalytic activity remains after 5 cycles with decoloration rates up to 90%. The degradation measurement in the presence of scavengers of reactive species reveals that the positive holes (h+) and hydroxyl radical (·OH) are the main reactive oxygen species in the CoFe2O4@PPy system. The performance enhancement may be attributed to the combination of improved Fenton activity by coordinated Fe2+ and PPy redox pairs and photo-catalytic activity by broaden adsorption and photo-generated charge separation.

Maruyama, Yutaro; Hasegawa, Koji

doi: 10.1039/c9ra09395hpmid: 35494584

The acoustic levitation method (ALM) is expected to be applied as a container-less processing technology in the material science, analytical chemistry, biomedical technology, and food science domains because this method can be used to levitate any sample in mid-air and prevent nucleation and contamination due to the container wall. However, this approach can lead to nonlinear behavior, such as acoustic streaming, which promotes the evaporation of a levitated droplet. This study aims to understand the evaporation and precipitation kinetics of an acoustically levitated multicomponent droplet. An experimental investigation of the evaporation process of a salt solution droplet was performed, and the experimental results were compared with those of the d2-law. The droplet was noted to evaporate in two stages owing to the precipitation of the salt. Because of the vapor pressure depression, the experimental data did not agree with the classical prediction obtained using the d2-law. However, the experimental results were in partial agreement with those of the d2-law when the vapor pressure depression was considered by using the concentration estimate at each time, as obtained from the experimental results. In addition, it was observed that the time when the salt completely precipitated could be estimated by using the extended theory. These findings provide physical and practical insights into the droplet evaporation mid-air for potential lab-in-a-drop applications.

Kim, Jaemyung; Seo, Okkyun; Hiroi, Satoshi; Irokawa, Yoshihiro; Nabatame, Toshihide; Koide, Yasuo; Sakata, Osami

doi: 10.1039/c9ra08882bpmid: 35494599

We investigated the surface morphology changes in a 2 inch-diameter, c-plane, free-standing GaN wafer using X-ray diffraction topography in a grazing-incidence geometry. We observed a decrease in the peak intensity and increase in the full width at half maximum of the GaN 112̄4 Bragg peak after the deposition of a homoepitaxial layer on the same GaN wafer. However, the lattice plane bending angles did not change after homoepitaxial layer deposition. Distorted-wave Born approximation calculations near the total external reflection condition revealed a decrease in the X-ray incidence angle of the 112̄4 Bragg peak after the homoepitaxial layer deposition. The decrease in both X-ray penetration and incidence angle induced broader and weaker diffraction peaks from the surface instead of the bulk GaN.

Huang, He; Jiang, Pengfei; Gao, Wenliang; Cong, Rihong; Yang, Tao

doi: 10.1039/c9ra09970kpmid: 35494605

Oxygen-deficient perovskites are a family of important materials that may exhibit oxide ionic conductivities. We attempted to introduce oxygen-vacancy disordering in perovskite Ca4GaNbO8 (Ca4-type) by substituting Ca2+ with larger Sr2+. Sr2+-to-Ca2+ substitution did not lead to oxygen-vacancy ordering–disordering transition but an interesting Ca4-to-Sr4 type structure transition. Rietveld refinements revealed that the two-type structures exhibit similar oxygen-vacancy ordering and identical 1:1:1 triple-cation B-site ordering. Close inspection of the two-type structures revealed the subtle structure difference lies in the orientations of GaO4 tetrahedra, which is the origin of the formation of the narrow two-phase region (0.3 ≤ x < 0.65) in Ca4−xSrxGaNbO8. More importantly, the A- and B-site cavities with large differences in size for both structures resulted in a site-selective doping behaviour for Sr2+ in Ca4−xSrxGaNbO8. These structural changes found in Ca4−xSrxGaNbO8 will provide a broad route approaching new oxygen-deficient phases with oxide ionic conductivities.

Chen, Xu; Chen, Er-Qiang; Yang, Shuang

doi: 10.1039/c9ra09694apmid: 35494593

In this paper we study the electrostatic attraction between two parallel rodlike DNA polyelectrolytes induced by neutralizing multivalent counterions at the zero temperature limit. The counterions crystallize on the charged surfaces of DNA so that we can handle the system by using the Wigner crystal lattice model. We derived the 3D ground state configuration of counterions with minimized energy by use of the gradient descent method, and calculated the interaction between two DNA cylinders with divalent or trivalent counterions when they approach. The results show that the complex ground state configuration of counterions plays a key role in determining the caused attraction. The counterions form three-dimensional Wigner crystals on each cylinder at large separation. When the cylinders are brought together, some counterion lines will move towards the inner region and lead to strong attraction. The calculated interaction from our model is in good agreement with the simulation result, however, the single particle approximation considerably overestimates the attraction.

Zhang, Chengdong; Yang, Fei; Xiao, Dongqin; Zhao, Qiao; Chen, Shuo; Liu, Kang; Zhang, Bo; Feng, Gang; Duan, Ke

doi: 10.1039/c9ra09626dpmid: 35494578

Repair of segmental bone defects is a challenge in orthopaedics. A bone substitute is a potential solution for this challenge, and angiogenesis and osteogenesis are critical to the performance of scaffold materials. For enhancing angiogenesis and osteogenesis activities of implanted scaffolds, Cu/Zn co-doped calcium phosphate scaffolds carrying GDF-5-release microspheres were prepared and implanted into surgically created critical-sized rabbit radial defects. Radiological examination, histological analysis and biomechanical tests were used to evaluate the bone healing-union. Results showed that, with increasing Cu/Zn concentrations, new bone area, new blood vessel density, and bending failure load all increased significantly. Furthermore, Cu/Zn co-doped scaffolds incorporating GDF-5-release microspheres exhibited further increased angiogenesis and osteogenesis (vs. Cu/Zn co-doped alone), as well as a superior bending failure load. These show that, simultaneous incorporation of trace essential ions and GDF-5 combines pro-angiogenic and pro-osteogenic actions of these bioactive substances, potentially offering an effective approach to assist the healing of critical-sized bone defects.

Kwon, Hyunah; Yoo, Hocheon; Nakano, Masahiro; Takimiya, Kazuo; Kim, Jae-Joon; Kim, Jong Kyu

doi: 10.1039/c9ra09195epmid: 35494617

Chemiresistive gas sensors, which exploit their electrical resistance in response to changes in nearby gas environments, usually achieve selective gas detection using multi-element sensor arrays. As large numbers of sensors are required, they often suffer from complex and high-cost fabrication. Here, we demonstrate an ambipolar organic thin-film transistor as a potential multi-gas sensing device utilizing gate-tunable gas sensing behaviors. Combining behaviors of both electron and hole carriers in a single device, the proposed device showed dynamic changes depending on gate biases and properties of target gases. As a result, the gas response as a function of gate biases exhibits a unique pattern towards a specific gas as well as its concentrations, which is very different from conventional unipolar organic thin-film transistors. In addition, our device showed an excellent air-stable characteristic compared to typical ambipolar transistors, providing great potential for practical use in the future.

Aznar-Cervantes, Salvador; Aliste, Marina; Garrido, Isabel; Yañez-Gascón, María J.; Vela, Nuria; Cenis, Jose L.; Navarro, Simón; Fenoll, José

doi: 10.1039/c9ra09239kpmid: 35494574

The photocatalytic properties of silk fibroin (SF) incorporating TiO2 nanoparticles using an electrospinning technique were examined. Electrospun SF/TiO2 mats were successfully prepared and characterized by different techniques (XRD, FE-SEM, XPS, XDS, FTIR and BET). The photocatalytic efficiency of these materials were assessed by their ability to degrade four pesticides (boscalid, hexythiazox, pyraclostrobin and trifloxystrobin) in water exposed to solar irradiation. The effect of catalyst loading on the disappearance kinetics of the different pesticides was studied in order to determine the maximum degradation efficiency. The degradation rate significantly increases upon adding the TiO2. However, no significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed when the TiO2 loading was increased from 25 to 50 mg for most compounds. Thus, SF mats with 25 mg of TiO2 were selected. Therefore, a new and simple approach to produce materials with photocatalytic activity, safety and potential application in the purification of water contaminated by pesticides has been developed.