Animal- and Human-Inspired Nanostructures as Supercapacitor Electrode Materials: A Review

Human civilization has been relentlessly inspired by the nurturing lessons; nature is teaching us. From birds to airplanes and bullet trains, nature gave us a lot of perspective in aiding the progress and development of countless industries, inventions, transportation, and many more. Not only that nature inspired us in such technological advances but also, nature stimulated the advancement of micro- and nanostructures. Nature-inspired nanoarchitectures have been considered a favorable structure in electrode materials for a wide range of applications. It offers various positive attributes, especially in energy storage applications, such as the formation of hierarchical two-dimensional and three-dimensional interconnected networked structures that benefit the electrodes in terms of high surface area, high porosity and rich surface textural features, and eventually, delivering high capacity and outstanding overall material stability. In this review, we comprehensively assessed and compiled the recent advances in various nature-inspired based on animal- and human-inspired nanostructures used for supercapacitors. This comprehensive review will help researchers to accommodate nature-inspired nanostructures in industrializing energy storage and many other applications.

Immobilized metal affinity chromatography matrix modified by poly (ethylene glycol) methyl ether for purification of angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory peptide from casein hydrolysate

Purification of small bioactive peptides from complex biological samples is a difficult task due to the interference of concentrated large biomolecules. In this study, a magnetic immobilized metal affinity chromatography matrix modified by poly (ethylene glycol) methyl ether (IMACM@mPEG) was prepared and applied for the rapid purification of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides from casein hydrolysate. The proposed IMACM@mPEG considerably reduced the non-specific adsorption of large proteins and exhibited improved purification efficiency towards ACE inhibitory peptides. A novel peptide with moderate ACE inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ value of 274 ± 5 μM) was identified as LLYQEPVLGPVR. Lineweaver-Burk plot confirmed the non-competitive inhibition pattern of LLYQEPVLGPVR. The purified peptide was digested after simulated gastrointestinal digestion and produced shorter peptides which contributed to enhanced ACE inhibitory activity. These results indicated that the IMACM@mPEG is an effective method for the prepurification of ACE inhibitory peptide and the purified peptide LLYQEPVLGPVR may have potential as nutraceutical ingredient in functional foods for hypertension treatments.

Oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene catalyzed by molybdenum dioxide immobilized on zirconia-modified silica

MoO₂/ZrO₂–SiO₂ catalysts show high activity in the oxidative desulfurization reaction, and the desulfurization rate can reach 99.96%.

Dopamine-derived cavities/Fe3O4 nanoparticles-encapsulated carbonaceous composites with self-generated three-dimensional network structure as an excellent microwave absorber

Dopamine-derived cavities/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles-encapsulated carbonaceous composites with self-generating three-dimensional (3D) network structure were successfully fabricated by a facile synthetic method, in which sodium alginate provided carbon matrix pores and excellent microwave absorption performance was established. The hollow cavities derived from the core–shell-like CaCO₃@polydopamine were creatively introduced into the 3D absorber to significantly improve the absorption performance. The sample calcined at 700 °C exhibited the most outstanding microwave absorption performance, with minimal reflection loss up to −50.80 dB at 17.52 GHz with a rare thickness of only 1.5 mm when filler loading was 35% in paraffin matrix. The effective absorption bandwidth of reflection loss < −10 dB reached 3.52 GHz from 14.48 GHz to 18 GHz, corresponding to the same thickness of 1.5 mm. In contrast, the sample without hollow dopamine-derived cavities showed poor performance due to poor impedance matching, and this highlights the role of hollow cavities brought into the 3D structure, which led to a difference in interfacial polarization, multiple reflections and scattering. The novel dopamine-derived cavities/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles-encapsulated carbonaceous composites with 3D network structure can be regarded as a promising candidate for application as a microwave absorber with strong absorption.

Hollow dopamine-derived cavities/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles-encapsulated carbonaceous composites with self-generating 3D network structure were fabricated for potential application as excellent microwave absorbers.