It is highly challenging to construct a durable superhydrophobic coating for practical applications since the coating is easily destroyed by mechano-chemical attack. To address this issue, a “PDMS-in-water” emulsion approach is for the first time adopted to design a mechanochemically robust superhydrophobic cotton fabric with intelligent self-healing nature, without using any fluorine-containing components. With this approach, PDMS molecules firstly penetrate into the cotton fiber, and then graft onto the surface of the cotton fabric with a strong binding force, creating hierarchical rough structures and lowering the surface energy simultaneously. Benefitting from this design, the PDMS@cotton fabric exhibits high superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle over 155°, surpassing all the PDMS-in-organic solvent based approaches. Impressively, the surface repairs its superhydrophobicity throughout the whole lifetime though damaged by machine washing or abrasion (>100 cycles), due to the self-diffusion process of PDMS molecules from the inner part to the outer surface of the cotton fibers to minimize surface free energy. Besides, the superhydrophobic coatings display superior chemical stability in strongly acidic and alkaline solution, and maintain similar textile physical properties of the cotton fabric, such as elongation at break, tensile strength, etc. Our environment-friendly “PDMS-in-water” approach can be easily integrated into industrial textile finishing treatment and is promising to apply to various substrates with robust superhydrophobic surfaces.
As a new tumor treatment strategy, photothermal therapy (PTT) has the advantages of accuracy, ease of administration, a high efficiency and low side effects. Photothermal transduction agents (PTAs) are the key factor which play an important role in PTT. The mechanism of PTT is discussed in detail. The photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE) can be improved by increasing the light absorption and reducing the light scattering of photothermal conversion agents. Additionally, non-radiative relaxation path attenuation can also promote energy conversion to obtain a higher value in terms of PCE. The structure and photothermal characteristics of various kinds of PTAs (metal materials, carbon-based nanomaterials, two-dimensional nanomaterials, and organic materials) were compared and analyzed. This paper reviews the antitumor applications of photothermal synergistic therapies, including PTT combined with immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and photodynamic therapy. This review proposes that these PTAs promote the development of photothermal synergistic therapies and have a great potential in the application of tumor treatment.
Highlights: • The commonly used synthetic polymers for vascular grafts are reviewed.• Various methods for surface modification of artificial vascular grafts are summarized.• Latest fabrication techniques for small-diameter vascular grafts and their mechanical and biological properties are systematically summarized.• Current state and future perspective of small-diameter vascular grafts are suggested.
The development of conversion‐typed anodes with ultrafast charging and large energy storage is quite challenging due to the sluggish ions/electrons transfer kinetics in bulk materials and fracture of the active materials. Herein, the design of porous carbon nanofibers/SnS2 composite (SnS2@N‐HPCNFs) for high‐rate energy storage, where the ultrathin SnS2 nanosheets are nanoconfined in N‐doped carbon nanofibers with tunable void spaces, is reported. The highly interconnected carbon nanofibers in three‐dimensional (3D) architecture provide a fast electron transfer pathway and alleviate the volume expansion of SnS2, while their hierarchical porous structure facilitates rapid ion diffusion. Specifically, the anode delivers a remarkable specific capacity of 1935.50 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C and excellent rate capability up to 30 C with a specific capacity of 289.60 mAh g−1. Meanwhile, at a high rate of 20 C, the electrode displays a high capacity retention of 84% after 3000 cycles and a long cycle life of 10 000 cycles. This work provides a deep insight into the construction of electrodes with high ionic/electronic conductivity for fast‐charging energy storage devices.
Electret filters are widely used in particulate matter filtration due to their filtration efficiency that can be greatly improved by electrostatic forces without sacrificing the air resistance. However, the attenuation of the filtration efficiency remains a challenge. In this study, we report a novel strategy for producing an electret melt blown filter with superior filtration efficiency stability through a thermally stimulated charging method. The proposed approach optimizes the crystal structure and therefore results in the increased production probability of the charge traps. In addition, the re-trapping phenomenon caused by the thermal stimulation during the charging process can greatly increase the proportion of deep charge to shallow charge and improve the charge stability. A superior electret melt blown filtration material with a high filtration efficiency of 99.65%, low pressure drop of 120 Pa, and satisfactory filtration efficiency stability was produced after three cyclic charging times. The excellent filtration performance indicated that the developed material is a good air filtration candidate component for personal protection applications.