Self-assembled carbon nanotube honeycomb networks using a butterfly wing template as a multifunctional nanobiohybrid

Hierarchical Porous Carbon Based on Waste Quinoa Straw for High-Performance Supercapacitors

This work presents a novel porous activated carbon electrode based on quinoa straw (QSC), which is derived from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The QSC is prepared through simple precarbonization and potassium carbonate (K2CO3) activation processes and is intended for use in supercapacitors. The QSC-3 exhibits a high specific capacitance of 469.5 F g-1 at a current density of 0.5 A g-1, as well as a high specific surface area of 1802 m2 g-1. Additionally, symmetrical supercapacitors assembled using QSC-3 samples demonstrate a superior energy power density. In a 3 M KOH electrolyte, the energy density can reach 15.0 Wh kg-1 at a power density of 689.7 W kg-1. In a 1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte, the power density reaches 999.00 W kg-1, and the energy density is 39.68 Wh kg-1. Furthermore, the device shows excellent cycle life in both 3 M KOH and 1 M Na2SO4 electrolytes, with capacitance retentions of 97.55% and 96.20% after 10 000 cycles, respectively. This study provides an excellent example of utilizing waste quinoa straw to achieve low-cost, high-performance supercapacitor electrode material for sustainable electrochemical energy storage systems.

Engineering a conduction-consistent cardiac patch with graphene oxide modified butterfly wings and human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes

Engineering a conduction-consistent cardiac patch has direct implications to biomedical research. However, there is difficulty in obtaining and maintaining a system that allows researchers to study physiologically relevant cardiac development, maturation, and drug screening due to the issues around inconsistent contractions of cardiomyocytes. Butterfly wings have special nanostructures arranged in parallel, which could help generate the alignment of cardiomyocytes to better mimic the natural heart tissue structure. Here, we construct a conduction-consistent human cardiac muscle patch by assembling human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) on graphene oxide (GO) modified butterfly wings. We also show this system functions as a versatile model to study human cardiomyogenesis by assembling human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac progenitor cells (hiPSC-CPCs) on the GO modified butterfly wings. The GO modified butterfly wing platform facilitated the parallel orientation of hiPSC-CMs, enhanced relative maturation as well as improved conduction consistency of the cardiomyocytes. In addition, GO modified butterfly wings enhanced the proliferation and maturation characteristics of the hiPSC-CPCs. In accordance with data obtained from RNA-sequencing and gene signatures, assembling hiPSC-CPCs on GO modified butterfly wings stimulated the differentiation of the progenitors into relatively mature hiPSC-CMs. These characteristics and capabilities of GO modified butterfly wings make them an ideal platform for heart research and drug screening.

Enhancing Bioinspired Aramid Nanofiber Networks by Interfacial Hydrogen Bonds for Multiprotection under an Extreme Environment

In nature, many insects have evolved sclerotic cuticles to shelter their soft bodies, which are considered as "body armor". For beetles, the epidermis is composed of cross-linked intertwined fiber structures; such a fiber network structure could provide an anti-impact function for composites. Aramid nanofibers (ANFs) are of great interest in various applications due to their 1D nanoscale, high aspect ratio, excellent strength and modulus, and impressive chemical and thermal stability. In this paper, a kind of ANF network is prepared by a layer-by-layer assembly method. The enhancing ANF networks are developed by introducing carboxylated chitosan acting as a hydrogen-bondin donors as well as a soft interlocking agent (C-ANFs). As a result of the formation of a nanostructure and the hydrogen-bond interactions, the assembled C-ANF networks presented a high tensile strength (551.4 MPa) and toughness (4.0 MJ/m²), which is 2.41 times and 32.69 times those of neat ANF networks, respectively. The excellent mechanical properties endow C-ANF networks with distinguished anti-impact performance. The specific dissipated energy after mass normalization reaches 7.34 MJ/kg, which is significantly superior to traditional protective materials such as steel and Kevlar composites. A nonlinear spring model is also used to explain the mechanical behavior of C-ANF networks. In addition to anti-impact protection, C-ANF networks can realize more than 99% of UV irradiation absorption and have excellent thermal stability. The chemical stability of C-ANF networks make them survive in acid and alkali environments. The above characteristics show that C-ANF networks have great application value in multiscale protection scenarios under an extreme environment.

Topographically Conductive Butterfly Wing Substrates for Directed Spiral Ganglion Neuron Growth

Spiral ganglion neuron (SGN) degeneration can lead to severe hearing loss, and the directional regeneration of SGNs has shown great potential for improving the efficacy of auditory therapy. Here, a novel 3D conductive microstructure with surface topologies is presented by integrating superaligned carbon-nanotube sheets (SA-CNTs) onto Morpho Menelaus butterfly wings for SGN culture. The parallel groove-like topological structures of M. Menelaus wings induce the cultured cells to grow along the direction of its ridges. The excellent conductivity of SA-CNTs significantly improves the efficiency of cellular information conduction. When integrating the SA-CNTs with M. Menelaus wings, the SA-CNTs are aligned in parallel with the M. Menelaus ridges, which further strengthens the consistency of the surface topography in the composite substrate. The SA-CNTs integrated onto butterfly wings provide powerful physical signals and regulate the behavior of SGNs, including cell survival, adhesion, neurite outgrowth, and synapse formation. These features indicate the possibility of directed regeneration after auditory nerve injury.

Beyond the Visible: Bioinspired Infrared Adaptive Materials

Infrared (IR) adaptation phenomena are ubiquitous in nature and biological systems. Taking inspiration from natural creatures, researchers have devoted extensive efforts for developing advanced IR adaptive materials and exploring their applications in areas of smart camouflage, thermal energy management, biomedical science, and many other IR-related technological fields. Herein, an up-to-date review is provided on the recent advancements of bioinspired IR adaptive materials and their promising applications. First an overview of IR adaptation in nature and advanced artificial IR technologies is presented. Recent endeavors are then introduced toward developing bioinspired adaptive materials for IR camouflage and IR radiative cooling. According to the Stefan-Boltzmann law, IR camouflage can be realized by either emissivity engineering or thermal cloaks. IR radiative cooling can maximize the thermal radiation of an object through an IR atmospheric transparency window, and thus holds great potential for use in energy-efficient green buildings and smart personal thermal management systems. Recent advances in bioinspired adaptive materials for emerging near-IR (NIR) applications are also discussed, including NIR-triggered biological technologies, NIR light-fueled soft robotics, and NIR light-driven supramolecular nanosystems. This review concludes with a perspective on the challenges and opportunities for the future development of bioinspired IR adaptive materials.

Functional Gradient Metallic Biomaterials: Techniques, Current Scenery, and Future Prospects in the Biomedical Field

Functional gradient materials (FGMs), as a modern group of materials, can provide multiple functions and are able to well mimic the hierarchical and gradient structure of natural systems. Because biomedical implants usually substitute the bone tissues and bone is an organic, natural FGM material, it seems quite reasonable to use the FGM concept in these applications. These FGMs have numerous advantages, including the ability to tailor the desired mechanical and biological response by producing various gradations, such as composition, porosity, and size; mitigating some limitations, such as stress-shielding effects; improving osseointegration; and enhancing electrochemical behavior and wear resistance. Although these are beneficial aspects, there is still a notable lack of comprehensive guidelines and standards. This paper aims to comprehensively review the current scenery of FGM metallic materials in the biomedical field, specifically its dental and orthopedic applications. It also introduces various processing methods, especially additive manufacturing methods that have a substantial impact on FGM production, mentioning its prospects and how FGMs can change the direction of both industry and biomedicine. Any improvement in FGM knowledge and technology can lead to big steps toward its industrialization and most notably for much better implant designs with more biocompatibility and similarity to natural tissues that enhance the quality of life for human beings.

On the unusual amber coloration of nanoporous sol-gel processed Al-doped silica glass: An experimental study

Silica is the most abundant component on the earth’s surface. It plays an important role in many natural processes. Silica is also a critical material for a wide range of technical applications such as in optics and electronics. In this work, we discuss our recent experimental observation of the unusual amber coloration of aluminum doped sol-gel glass that has not been reported in the past. We characterized Al-doped sol-gel glasses, prepared at different sintering temperature, using a plethora of techniques to investigate the origin of this unusual coloration and to understand their structural and chemical properties. We used these experimental results to test a number of possible coloring mechanisms. The results suggested this coloring is likely caused by temperature-dependent aluminum-associated defect centers associated with different amorphous-to-crystalline ratios of the annealed sol-gel silica glass structures.

Fabrication of quasi-metallic NixMoO3 nanodots for enhanced plasmon resonance and photothermal conversion

Quasi-metallic NixMoO3 nanodots with an enhanced localized surface plasmon resonance in the visible and NIR regions have been successfully fabricated. DFT calculations reveal the metallic nature of NixMoO3 nanodots. Thus, they exhibit an excellent photothermal conversion efficiency of 87.4%, and have a high water evaporation rate of 2.13 kg m-2 h-1.

Bioinspired Infrared Sensing Materials and Systems

Bioinspired engineering offers a promising alternative approach in accelerating the development of many man-made systems. Next-generation infrared (IR) sensing systems can also benefit from such nature-inspired approach. The inherent compact and uncooled operation of biological IR sensing systems provides ample inspiration for the engineering of portable and high-performance artificial IR sensing systems. This review overviews the current understanding of the biological IR sensing systems, most of which are thermal-based IR sensors that rely on either bolometer-like or photomechanic sensing mechanism. The existing efforts inspired by the biological IR sensing systems and possible future bioinspired approaches in the development of new IR sensing systems are also discussed in the review. Besides these biological IR sensing systems, other biological systems that do not have IR sensing capabilities but can help advance the development of engineered IR sensing systems are also discussed, and the related engineering efforts are overviewed as well. Further efforts in understanding the biological IR sensing systems, the learning from the integration of multifunction in biological systems, and the reduction of barriers to maximize the multidiscipline collaborations are needed to move this research field forward.

Advances in the design of nanomaterial-based electrochemical affinity and enzymatic biosensors for metabolic biomarkers: A review

This review (with 340 refs) focuses on methods for specific and sensitive detection of metabolites for diagnostic purposes, with particular emphasis on electrochemical nanomaterial-based sensors. It also covers novel candidate metabolites as potential biomarkers for diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases, autism spectrum disorder and hepatitis. Following an introduction into the field of metabolic biomarkers, a first major section classifies electrochemical biosensors according to the bioreceptor type (enzymatic, immuno, apta and peptide based sensors). A next section covers applications of nanomaterials in electrochemical biosensing (with subsections on the classification of nanomaterials, electrochemical approaches for signal generation and amplification using nanomaterials, and on nanomaterials as tags). A next large sections treats candidate metabolic biomarkers for diagnosis of diseases (in the context with metabolomics), with subsections on biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, autism spectrum disorder and hepatitis. The Conclusion addresses current challenges and future perspectives. Graphical abstract This review focuses on the recent developments in electrochemical biosensors based on the use of nanomaterials for the detection of metabolic biomarkers. It covers the critical metabolites for some diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases, autism spectrum disorder and hepatitis.

A flexible, ultra-sensitive chemical sensor with 3D biomimetic templating for diabetes-related acetone detection

The structural features of biological organisms have evolved through natural selection to provide highly tailored functions, inspiring numerous biomimetic and biological design strategies. A wide scope of untapped potential lies in harnessing the nanoscale architectural properties of natural biological materials to develop high-performance sensors. Herein, we report the development of an ultrasensitive chemical sensor that is based on the three-dimensional (3D) biomimetic templating of a structurally hierarchical butterfly wing. In conjunction with graphene sheet coating strategies, the porous 3D architecture enables highly selective detection of diabetes-related volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including a rapid response time (≤1 s), a low limit of detection (20 ppb), and superior mechanical properties. Taken together, the findings in this work demonstrate the promise of incorporating natural biological materials into high-performance sensors, with excellent potential for wearable and flexible sensors.

Enhanced Photothermal Bactericidal Activity of the Reduced Graphene Oxide Modified by Cationic Water-Soluble Conjugated Polymer

Surface modification of graphene is extremely important for applications. Here, we report a grafting-through method for grafting water-soluble polythiophenes onto reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets. As a result of tailoring of the side chains of the polythiophenes, the modified RGO sheets, that is, RGO-g-P3TOPA and RGO-g-P3TOPS, are positively and negatively charged, respectively. The grafted water-soluble polythiophenes provide the modified RGO sheets with good dispersibility in water and high photothermal conversion efficiencies (ca. 88%). Notably, the positively charged RGO-g-P3TOPA exhibits unprecedentedly excellent photothermal bactericidal activity, because the electrostatic attractions between RGO-g-P3TOPA and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bind them together, facilitating direct heat conduction through their interfaces: the minimum concentration of RGO-g-P3TOPA that kills 100% of E. coli is 2.5 μg mL^-1, which is only 1/16th of that required for RGO-g-P3TOPS to exhibit a similar bactericidal activity. The direct heat conduction mechanism is supported by zeta-potential measurements and photothermal heating tests, in which the achieved temperature of the RGO-g-P3TOPA suspension (2.5 μg mL^-1, 32 °C) that kills 100% of E. coli is found to be much lower than the thermoablation threshold of bacteria. Therefore, this research demonstrates a novel and superior method that combines photothermal heating effect and electrostatic attractions to efficiently kill bacteria.

New insights and perspectives into biological materials for flexible electronics

Materials based on biological materials are becoming increasingly competitive and are likely to be critical components in flexible electronic devices.

The well-designed hierarchical structure of Musa basjoo for supercapacitors

Application of biological structure is one of the hottest topics in the field of science and technology. The unimaginable and excellent architectures of living beings supporting their vital activities have attracted the interests of worldwide researchers. An intriguing example is Musa basjoo which belongs to the herb, while appears like a tree. The profound mystery of structure and potential application of Musa basjoo have not been probed. Here we show the finding of the hierarchical structure of Musa basjoo and the outstanding electrochemical performance of the super-capacitors fabricated through the simple carbonization of Musa basjoo followed by KOH activation. Musa basjoo has three layers of structure: nanometer-level, micrometer-level and millimeter-level. The nanometer-level structure constructs the micrometer-level structure, while the micrometer-level structure constructs the millimeter-level structure. Based on this hierarchical structure, Musa basjoo reduces the unnecessary weight and therefore supports its huge body. The super-capacitors derived from Musa basjoo display a high specific capacitance and a good cycling stability. This enlightening work opens a window for the applications of the natural structure and we hope that more and more people could pay attention to the bio-inspired materials.

An Ingenious Super Light Trapping Surface Templated from Butterfly Wing Scales

Based on the super light trapping property of butterfly Trogonoptera brookiana wings, the SiO2 replica of this bionic functional surface was successfully synthesized using a simple and highly effective synthesis method combining a sol-gel process and subsequent selective etching. Firstly, the reflectivity of butterfly wing scales was carefully examined. It was found that the whole reflectance spectroscopy of the butterfly wings showed a lower level (less than 10 %) in the visible spectrum. Thus, it was confirmed that the butterfly wings possessed a super light trapping effect. Afterwards, the morphologies and detailed architectures of the butterfly wing scales were carefully investigated using the ultra-depth three-dimensional (3D) microscope and field emission scanning electronic microscopy (FESEM). It was composed by the parallel ridges and quasi-honeycomb-like structure between them. Based on the biological properties and function above, an exact SiO2 negative replica was fabricated through a synthesis method combining a sol-gel process and subsequent selective etching. At last, the comparative analysis of morphology feature size and the reflectance spectroscopy between the SiO2 negative replica and the flat plate was conducted. It could be concluded that the SiO2 negative replica inherited not only the original super light trapping architectures, but also the super light trapping characteristics of bio-template. This work may open up an avenue for the design and fabrication of super light trapping materials and encourage people to look for more super light trapping architectures in nature.

Subtractive Structural Modification of Morpho Butterfly Wings

Different from studies of butterfly wings through additive modification, this work for the first time studies the property change of butterfly wings through subtractive modification using oxygen plasma etching. The controlled modification of butterfly wings through such subtractive process results in gradual change of the optical properties, and helps the further understanding of structural optimization through natural evolution. The brilliant color of Morpho butterfly wings is originated from the hierarchical nanostructure on the wing scales. Such nanoarchitecture has attracted a lot of research effort, including the study of its optical properties, its potential use in sensing and infrared imaging, and also the use of such structure as template for the fabrication of high-performance photocatalytic materials. The controlled subtractive processes provide a new path to modify such nanoarchitecture and its optical property. Distinct from previous studies on the optical property of the Morpho wing structure, this study provides additional experimental evidence for the origination of the optical property of the natural butterfly wing scales. The study also offers a facile approach to generate new 3D nanostructures using butterfly wings as the templates and may lead to simpler structure models for large-scale man-made structures than those offered by original butterfly wings.

Thermoresponsive Photonic Crystal: Synergistic Effect of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-acrylic Acid and Morpho Butterfly Wing

In this work, we report a simple method to fabricate smart polymers engineered with hierarchical photonic structures of Morpho butterfly wing to present high performance that are capable of color tunability over temperature. The materials were assembled by combining functional temperature responsivity of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-acrylic acid (PNIPAm-co-AAc) with the biological photonic crystal (PC) structure of Morpho butterfly wing, and then the synergistic effect between the functional polymer and the natural PC structure was created. Their cooperativity is instantiated in the phase transition of PNIPAm-co-AAc (varying with the change of temperature) that can alter the nanostructure of PCs, which further leads to the reversible spectrum response property of the modified hierarchical photonic structures. The cost-effective biomimetic technique presented here highlights the bright prospect of fabrication of more stimuli-responsive functional materials via coassembling smart polymers and biohierarchical structures, and it will be an important platform for the development of nanosmart biomaterials.

Synthetic fossilization of soft biological tissues and their shape-preserving transformation into silica or electron-conductive replicas

Structural preservation of complex biological systems from the subcellular to whole organism level in robust forms, enabling dissection and imaging while preserving 3D context, represents an enduring grand challenge in biology. Here we report a simple immersion method for structurally preserving intact organisms via conformal stabilization within silica. This self-limiting process, which we refer to as silica bioreplication, occurs by condensation of water-soluble silicic acid proximally to biomolecular interfaces throughout the organism. Conformal nanoscopic silicification of all biomolecular features imparts structural rigidity enabling the preservation of shape and nano-to-macroscale dimensional features upon drying to form a biocomposite and further high temperature oxidative calcination to form silica replicas or reductive pyrolysis to form electrically conductive carbon replicas of complete organisms. The simplicity and generalizability of this approach should facilitate efforts in biological preservation and analysis and could enable the development of new classes of biomimetic composite materials.

Imaging biological tissues has long been an issue, particularly with regard to manipulation and dissection for SEM. Here, the authors present a simple technique for the stabilization of biological tissues via a synthetic fossilization process, requiring minimal expertise or equipment and involving few steps.

Water transport control in carbon nanotube arrays

Based on a recent scaling law of the water mobility under nanoconfined conditions, we envision novel strategies for precise modulation of water diffusion within membranes made of carbon nanotube arrays (CNAs). In a first approach, the water diffusion coefficient D may be tuned by finely controlling the size distribution of the pore size. In the second approach, D can be varied at will by means of externally induced electrostatic fields. Starting from the latter strategy, switchable molecular sieves are proposed, where membranes are properly designed with sieving and permeation features that can be dynamically activated/deactivated. Areas where a precise control of water transport properties is beneficial range from energy and environmental engineering up to nanomedicine.

Predicting the properties of a new class of host–guest complexes: C60 fullerene and CB[9] cucurbituril

DFT, semi-empirical and classical molecular dynamics methods were used to describe the structure and stability of the inclusion complex formed by the fullerene C₆₀ and the cucurbituril CB[9].