Separable Magnetic Sensors for the Optical Determination of Oxygen

Highly deformable and strongly magnetic semi-interpenetrating hydrogels based on alginate or cellulose

The effective implementation of many of the applications of magnetic hydrogels requires the development of innovative systems capable of withstanding a substantial load of magnetic particles to ensure exceptional responsiveness, without compromising their reliability and stability. To address this challenge, double-network hydrogels have emerged as a promising foundation, thanks to their extraordinary mechanical deformability and toughness. Here, we report a semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (SIPNs) approach to create diverse magnetic SIPNs hydrogels based on alginate or cellulose, exhibiting remarkable deformability under certain stresses. Achieving strong responsiveness to magnetic fields is a key objective, and this characteristic is realized by the incorporation of highly magnetic iron microparticles at moderately large concentrations into the polymer network. Remarkably, the SIPNs hydrogels developed in this research accommodate high loadings of magnetic particles without significantly compromising their physical properties. This feature is essential for their use in applications that demand robust responsiveness to applied magnetic fields and overall stability, such as a hydrogel luminescent oxygen sensor controlled by magnetic fields that we designed and tested as proof-of-concept. These findings underscore the potential and versatility of magnetic SIPNs hydrogels based on carbohydrate biopolymers as fundamental components in driving the progress of advanced hydrogels for diverse practical implementations.

Multifunctional mesoporous nanocomposites with magnetic, optical, and sensing features: synthesis, characterization, and their oxygen-sensing performance

In this paper, the fabrication, characterization, and application in oxygen sensing are reported for a novel multifunctional nanomaterial of [Ru(bpy)(2)phen-MMS] (bpy, 2,2'-bipyridyl; phen, phenathrolin) which was simply prepared by covalently grafting the ruthenium(II) polypyridyl compounds into the channels of magnetic mesoporous silica nanocomposites (MMS). Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, N(2) adsorption-desorption, a superconducting quantum interference device, UV-vis spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectra were used to characterize the samples. The well-designed multifunctional nanocomposites show superparamagnetic behavior and ordered mesoporous characteristics and exhibit a strong red-orange metal-to-ligand charge transfer emission. In addition, the obtained nanocomposites give high performance in oxygen sensing with high sensitivity (I(0)/I(100) = 5.2), good Stern-Volmer characteristics (R(2) = 0.9995), and short response/recovery times (t↓ = 6 s and t↑ = 12 s). The magnetic, mesoporous, luminescent, and oxygen-sensing properties of this multifunctional nanostructure make it hold great promise as a novel multifunctional oxygen-sensing system for chemical/biosensor.