Cockle shell-derived nanoparticles for optical urea biosensor development based on reflectance transduction

An optical biosensor for urea based on urease enzyme immobilised on functionalised calcium carbonate nanoparticles (CaCO₃-NPs) was successfully developed in this study. CaCO₃-NPs were synthesised from discarded cockle shells via a simple and eco-friendly approach, followed by surface functionalisation with succinimide ester groups. The fabricated biosensor is comprised of two layers. The first (bottom layer) contained functionalised NPs covalently immobilised to urease, and the second (uppermost layer) was alginate hydrogel physically immobilised to the pH indicator phenolphthalein. The biosensor provided a colorimetric indication of increasing urea concentrations by changing from colourless to pink. Quantitative urea analysis was performed by measuring the reflectance intensity of the colour change at a wavelength of 633.16 nm. The determination of urea concentration using this biosensor yielded a linear response range of 30–1000 mM (R² = 0.9901) with a detection limit of 17.74 mM at pH 7.5. The relative standard deviation of reproducibility was 1.14%, with no signs of interference by major cations, such as K⁺, Na⁺, NH?⁺, and Mg²⁺. The fabricated biosensor showed no significant difference with the standard method for the determination of urea in urine samples.     

Artificial intelligence-based microfluidic platforms for the sensitive detection of environmental pollutants: Recent advances and prospects

Environmental pollution and its drastic effects on human and animal health have urged governments to implement strict policies to minimize damage. The first step in applying such policies is to find reliable methods to detect pollution in various media, including water, food, soil, and air. In this regard, various approaches such as spectrophotometric, chromatographic, and electrochemical techniques have been proposed. To overcome the limitations associated with conventional analytical methods, microfluidic devices have emerged as sensitive technologies capable of generating high content information during the past few years. The passage of contaminant samples through the microfluidic channels provides essential details about the whole environment after detection by the detector. In the meantime, artificial intelligence is an ideal means to identify, classify, characterize, and even predict the data obtained from microfluidic systems. The development of microfluidic devices with integrated machine learning and artificial intelligence is promising for the development of next-generation monitoring systems. Combination of the two systems ensures time efficient setups with easy operation. This review article is dedicated to the recent developments in microfluidic chips coupled with artificial intelligence technology for the evolution of more convenient pollution monitoring systems.     

Biocompatible NaYF4:Yb,Er upconversion nanoparticles: Colloidal stability and optical properties

Currently, highly luminescent colloidal upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have expanded an increasing interest of researchers because of their facilitating lability in the biomedical/clinical field. In this study, NaYF₄:Yb,Er UCNPs are prepared by eco-friendly metal complexation-based thermal decomposition method at a lower temperature in aqueous media. The phase structure, crystallinity, phase purity, morphology, colloidal dispersibility, surface structure, surface charge, and optical and luminescent properties were evaluated carefully by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), zeta potential, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV/visible and photoluminescent spectroscopic techniques. XRD pattern shows a pure single-phase cubic structure with an average grain size of 30–35 nm. TEM and SEM micrographs exhibited irregularly shaped spherical morphologies, porous surface structures highly aggregated UCNPs with the narrow-size distribution. Positive zeta potential has shown value signifying high absorption in the visible region which indicates particle's good colloidal stability in aqueous media. Under NIR-laser light excitation, the UCNPs emit strong UC emission transitions in the visible region. A broad infrared absorption peak of hydroxyl groups (–OH) in FTIR spectrum and mass loss at a lower temperature in TGA verified the surface functionality of UCNPs, with high colloidal stability, and excellent biocompatibility in aqueous media. In terms of their surface characteristics and high luminescent properties, the NaYF₄:Yb,Er UCNPs could be interestingly applied in tagging of biomolecules, drug delivery, proteins labeling, and therapeutic and thermostats applications.     

Accessing the spatiotemporal heterogeneities of single nanocatalysts by optically imaging gas nanobubbles

Catalysts that catalyze the generation of products in the gas phase, especially those involved in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), hold great promise for ecofriendly and sustainable energy development. In general, gas chromatography is widely used to measure catalytic activity. Unfortunately, it gives an averaged output that washes out the heterogeneities among individuals. To assess the unique catalytic properties at the single nanoparticle level, various methods based on single particle catalysis have been proposed. Over the past fifteen years, tremendous breakthroughs have been achieved, which uncovered hidden spatial and temporal heterogeneities. Although powerful, effectively quantifying the activities of single HER nanocatalysts remains challenging because of the fast diffusion of hydrogen (H₂). In 2017, a novel approach based on a nanobubble indicator was proposed to correlate the kinetics of gas bubble evolution with the catalytic activities of individual nanoentities during the HER process. Since then, a plethora of optical microscopy techniques have been utilized to monitor dynamically evolved nanobubbles and to measure the catalytic activities of single HER catalysts. In this minireview, we summarized state-of-the-art optical microscopy for in operando imaging of dynamic nanobubbles involved in gas-generating reactions while highlighting some important discoveries, including the blinking photocatalytic activity and heterogeneous distribution of active sites. Finally, challenges and future perspectives in this promising field were identified.     

Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering of Self-assembled Superstructures

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering(SERS) is a molecular specific spectroscopic technique that amplifies the Raman signal of absorbed molecules for up to 10¹⁰times. Over the past decades, SERS substrates experienced rapid growth, resulting in excellent development for SERS analysis. Because the surface plasmonic resonance coupling between individual materials can form a "hotspot" region to maximize the Raman signal, among many substrate construction strategies, self-assembly attracts more attention in constructing superstructures with strong, uniform and stable SERS activity. In addition, a number of plasmon-free nanomaterials with appropriate superstructures samely show enhanced SERS activity, which is primarily attributed to the formation of the optical resonator. This review aims to provide a scientific synopsis on the progress of self-assembled superstructures for SERS and ignite new dis˗ coveries in the SERS platform, as well as SERS applications in various fields.     

呋喃基聚酯的结构与性能关系研究进展

呋喃基聚酯是指以2,5-呋喃二甲酸(FDCA)为主要单体合成的生物基或部分生物基高分子,其主链含有刚性的呋喃环,因而在结构、性能上与大规模使用的传统石油基芳香族聚酯(如PET、PBT)相似,有望在瓶、片、薄膜、化纤等领域部分替代后者。本文综述了呋喃基聚酯的分子结构、聚集态结构以及力学、气体阻隔、降解等性能方面的最新研究进展,讨论了结构与性能之间的关系。重点关注呋喃基聚酯突出的阻隔性能及其对应的影响因素,主要从分子结构(呋喃环的非对称性和极性)和聚集态结构(结晶等)两方面加以阐明。简介了呋喃基聚酯的发展现状及其在包装、纺织等领域的潜在应用,并展望其主要研究趋势。     

基于纳米金Core-satellites等离子体耦合增强效应的汞离子光纤传感器的研究

以DNA杂交双链为联接, 构建纳米金颗粒Core-satellites结构并激发等离子体耦合增强效应,利用Hg2+可与DNA中胸腺嘧啶T形成T-Hg2+-T特异性结构,研制了用于检测水中Hg2+的局域等离子体共振(LSPR)光纤传感器.待测溶液中的Hg2+能够引起富含T的DNA单链折叠,抑制DNA杂交反应,降低等离子体耦合强度,改变LSPR谐振波长.通过检测谐振波长红移变化,实现对Hg2+浓度的定量检测.本方法检测Hg2+的线性范围为5~150 nmol/L, 检出限为3.4 nmol/L (3σ). Zn2+、Mg2+、Pb2+等重金属离子对Hg2+检测无明显干扰作用.实际水样中Hg2+加样回收率为94.2%~105.4%,相对标准偏差<4.8%.     

Double telecom band thermo-optic switch based on dual-line filled photonic liquid crystal fibres

We demonstrate a thermo-optic switch based on photonic liquid crystal fibres (PLCFs) in which two lines of air hole are selective filled with liquid crystal (LC), with a high extinction ratio of more than 20 dB around 1310 nm and 1550 nm. Only in the range of 2.0°C it can perform a turn off and on operation of transmitted light in the second telecom band around 1550 nm while the first telecom bands around 1310 nm is still on. Due to the splitting of the bandgap, the switching function is achieved in this kind of PLCFs. Before the cleaning point (CP) of LC, a broad bandgap from about 1120 nm to 1320 nm splits into two ones, which are continuing inducing huge bandgap extension to shorter wavelength and longer wavelength after the CP of LC, respectively. Moreover, the temperature responses around the CP of LC is also investigated. Its sensitivity is about ?92.32 nm/°C around the CP of LC. Therefore, such kind of selective-filled PLCFs could find potential applications as thermo-optic switch and temperature sensor in the telecom band.     

基于铕取代多金属氧簇的手性发光液晶材料

The incorporation of europium-substituted polyoxometalate (PM) into chiral amphiphiles is attractive for the fabrication of multifunctional chiral luminescent liquid crystalline materials. Chiral amphiphiles acted as good promoters to trigger the achiral PM to show induced supramolecular chirality through electrostatic interactions, as illustrated by circular dichroism (CD) spectra. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM), and temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed that the organic/inorganic hybrid polyoxometalate complex exhibited thermotropic mesomorphic behaviors. In a cast film, the complex displayed intrinsic luminescence that could be adjusted by accurately controlling the temperature. The electrostatic encapsulation of PM with chiral mesomorphic promoters provides an effective method for constructing PM-based chiral luminescent liquid crystalline materials.     

Synthesis,Structure, and Properties of Nonlinear Optical Crystal Na2SiF6

Nonlinear optical crystals of fluosilicate Na₂SiF₆ are synthesized via hydrothermal method and its structure is determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction (XRD). The space group of Na₂SiF₆ is P321 with cell parameters a = 8.8715(3) Å, c = 5.0484(5) Å, Z = 3, V = 344.09(4) ų. The properties of the crystal are measured by powder XRD, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet/visible (UV/Vis) near‐infrared (NIR) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, thermogravimetric (TG), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The bandgap calculated using CASTEP is 7.41 eV, indicating that the cut‐off edge of the Na₂SiF₆ crystal can be down to deep‐UV energy region. The first‐principles studies were performed to elucidate the structure/property relationship of Na₂SiF₆.