In vitro assessment of Ag-TiO 2 /polyurethane nanocomposites for infection control using response surface methodology

Potent environmental-friendly virucidal medical textiles against coronavirus to combat infections during the COVID-19 pandemic

The sudden outburst of Coronavirus disease 19 or COVID-19 has raised serious awareness about viral contamination on the environment, which is one of the major causes of the disease. Transmission via contaminated surfaces has been recognized as a significant route for spreading the virus. To suppress and control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, potent virucidal finishing agents for decontamination of medical textiles are urgently required. In this study, an environmental-friendly, economical, non-toxic, and practical finishing on medical textiles with potent virucidal activity was proposed with the combined concepts of a new green synthesis of TiO2@Ag core-shell nanostructures using ascorbic acid reduction and UV-curing process. In order to evaluate efficiency of virucidal activity, effects of the amount of TiO2@Ag NPs and contact time were determined against the coronavirus following ISO 18184:2019 standard. The finishing agent exhibited an excellent 99.9% virucidal efficacy. The stability of virucidal activity and mechanical properties were determined under repeated washing. The finished fabrics had the ability to retain their virucidal activity and tensile strength through 20 washes. The results suggested that the finishing agent had great potential as a potent and non-toxic virucide against the coronavirus for medical textile applications.

Nanomaterials for electrochemical detection of pollutants in water: A review

The survival of living beings, including humanity, depends on a continuous supply of clean water. However, due to the development of industry, agriculture, and population growth, an increasing number of wastewaters is discarded, and the negative effects of such actions are clear. The first step in solving this situation is the collection and monitoring of pollutants in water bodies to subsequently facilitate their treatment. Nonetheless, traditional sensing techniques are typically laboratory-based, leading to potential diminishment in analysis quality. In this paper, the most recent developments in micro- and nano-electrochemical devices for pollutant detection in wastewater are reviewed. The devices reviewed are based on a variety of electrodes and the sensing of three different categories of pollutants: nutrients and phenolic compounds, heavy metals, and organic matter. From these electrodes, Cu, Co, and Bi showed promise as versatile materials to detect a grand variety of contaminants. Also, the most commonly used material is glassy carbon, present in the detection of all reviewed analytes.

Synthesis of thiomers: screening and optimization using chemometrics

A chemometric study of the processing variables involved in the synthesis of thiomers based on poly(acrylic acid) functionalized with l-cysteine (PAA-cys) mediated by carbodiimide was successfully carried out.