Article
Engineering, Chemical
Huang Teik Lay, Rong Wang, Jia Wei Chew
Summary: This study investigates membrane fouling caused by pure particles and mixtures, revealing the impact of different types of particles and a level of analysis. The results show that mixtures exhibit more severe flux decline and higher pore blockage parameters compared to pure constituents, but internal cake resistance parameters may not necessarily follow the same trend.
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Polymer Science
Ana Mateos-Maroto, Laura Fernandez-Pena, Irene Abelenda-Nunez, Francisco Ortega, Ramon G. Rubio, Eduardo Guzman
Summary: This review provides an updated perspective on the various applications of polyelectrolyte multilayered capsules (PEMUCs) obtained using the Layer-by-Layer (LbL) method in the biomedical field, emphasizing the significant advantages offered by the LbL method for fabricating platforms for different disease detection and treatment.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Revaz Chachanidze, Kaili Xie, Hanna Massaad, Denis Roux, Marc Leonetti, Clement de Loubens
Summary: Controlling the assembly of polyelectrolytes and surfactant at liquid-liquid interfaces is important for fabricating soft materials with specific physical properties. The kinetics and properties of the assembly process of a positively charged biopolymer, chitosan, with an anionic fatty acid at the water-oil interface were studied. The results revealed that the interfacial complexation is a multi-step process.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tong Bian, Andrea Gardin, Julius Gemen, Lothar Houben, Claudio Perego, Byeongdu Lee, Nadav Elad, Zonglin Chu, Giovanni M. Pavan, Rafal Klajn
Summary: The use of small molecules with electric charges can effectively induce attractive interactions between oppositely charged nanoparticles in water, guiding their assembly into colloidal crystals. This approach offers a facile way to fabricate, manipulate, and investigate nanostructured materials in aqueous environments.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Bjorn Stenqvist, Jerome J. Crassous
Summary: Through Monte Carlo simulations, the interactions between oppositely charged multi-indented lock- and spherical key-particles were investigated. The study found specific interactions leading to the formation of ordered clusters. However, under low volume fractions, the entropic cost of binding multiple keys to a single lock hindered the formation of ordered aggregates or lattices, resulting in gel-like structures.
Article
Polymer Science
Jeong-Wan Choi, Tae-Young Heo, Heelak Choi, Soo-Hyung Choi, Jong-In Won
Summary: The formation of complex coacervate core micelles (C3Ms) from two oppositely charged elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) is studied in this research. It is found that the structure of the micelles changes with the variation of salt concentration and temperature.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Marta Ruano, Ana Mateos-Maroto, Francisco Ortega, Hernan Ritacco, Jose E. F. Rubio, Eduardo Guzman, Ramon G. Rubio
Summary: This work proposes a simple methodology for coating small unilamellar liposomes with polyelectrolyte multilayers using the layer-by-layer deposition method. The coated liposomes can be used as drug delivery platforms after eliminating lipids, showing potential applications beyond liposomes or polyelectrolyte multilayers.
Article
Polymer Science
Christian Aponte-Rivera, Michael Rubinstein
Summary: This study presents a scaling theory to predict the dynamics of symmetric and asymmetric unentangled liquid coacervates formed by solutions of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. Symmetric coacervates consist of polycations and polyanions with equal charge densities and a single correlation length, while asymmetric coacervates have unequal charge densities and a double semidilute structure with two correlation lengths. The dynamic coupling in asymmetric coacervates increases the friction and contribution to zero-shear viscosity of high-charge-density polyelectrolytes, with a non-monotonic salt concentration dependence of the zero-shear viscosity predicted.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sofia M. Morozova, Leticia Lopez-Flores, Albert Gevorkian, Honghu Zhang, Vahid Adibnia, Weiqing Shi, Dmytro Nykypanchuk, Tatiana G. Statsenko, Gilbert C. Walker, Oleg Gang, Monica Olvera de la Cruz, Eugenia Kumacheva
Summary: Particle softness plays an important role in the formation of colloidal clusters and gels. Experimental and simulation studies were conducted to investigate the impact of particle softness on the assembly of clusters and networks from mixtures of oppositely charged polymer nanoparticles. It was found that hard nanoparticles formed fractal clusters and subsequently organized into a kinetically arrested colloidal gel, while soft nanoparticles formed dense precipitating aggregates. Moreover, interactions between hard and soft nanoparticles resulted in the formation of discrete precipitating aggregates at a relatively low volume fraction of soft nanoparticles.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Linlin Hao, Dongmei Jia, Mengzhu Liu
Summary: A novel layer-by-layer adsorption method using pre-bleached sawdust cellulose coated with polyethylenimine (PSC-PEI) was proposed for the adsorption of Cu(II) and Cr(VI). The study found that PSC-PEI loaded with Cu(II) cations had a favorable effect on the adsorption of Cr(VI) anions. Kinetic regression analysis showed that PSC-PEI exhibited a stronger affinity towards Cr(VI) than Cu(II). The adsorption mechanism for Cu(II) involved the formation of copper-amine complex, while the adsorption mechanism for Cr(VI) mainly involved electrostatic attraction and redox reaction.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Bin Li, Yong-Lei Wang, Guang Shi, Yangyang Gao, Xinghua Shi, Clifford E. Woodward, Jan Forsman
Summary: This study investigates systems containing oppositely charged colloidal particles under applied alternating current electric fields using overdamped Langevin dynamics simulations. The results show the formation of jammed bands perpendicular to the field direction under intermediate frequencies and lanes parallel with the field under low frequencies, depending on particle charges. The pathway for generating these bands follows a stepwise mechanism, with observations of intermediate bands in some systems. Additionally, the transition from jammed bands to lanes is found to occur at a critical value of pressure tensors parallel to the field direction, with stable steady states conforming to the principle of maximum entropy production.
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Zhe Xiao, Lin-Hao Liu, Teng Liu, Dan Yang, Xiang Jia, Yu-Kun Du, Shuo-Qi Li, Wen-Jiu Yang, Yong-Ming Xi, Rong-Chang Zeng
Summary: Polyelectrolyte-coated magnesium alloy was prepared using layer-by-layer assembly with poly(allylamine hydro-chloride) (PAH) and sodium alginate (ALG). The influence of genipin as a crosslinking agent on the coatings' microscopic features and corrosion resistance was examined. The results showed that the crosslinked coating exhibited improved anticorrosive property and enhanced cytocompatibility, suggesting that crosslinking treatment could improve the performance of LbL assembled multilayer coatings.
PROGRESS IN ORGANIC COATINGS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Yunqiao Ma, Andrew L. Zydney, Rong Wang, Jia Wei Chew
Summary: Membrane fouling in membrane-filtration processes is still a challenge due to poor correlation between macroscopic characteristics like net electrical charge and fouling. Molecular dynamics simulations were used to study interactions between similarly-sized proteins with opposite charges and a negatively-charged membrane. Results suggest that local interactions play a critical role, highlighting limitations of using overall protein characteristics to predict membrane fouling.
Article
Materials Science, Biomaterials
Zhicheng Pan, Guangxuan Yang, Jian Liu, Jinfeng Yuan, Mingwang Pan, Jiehua Li, Hong Tan
Summary: This study investigates the effect of negative charges in the polymer chains on the properties of cationic surfactant Gemini quaternary ammonium (GQA) in polymer micelles. It is found that interchain electrostatic interaction undermines the function of GQA and hinders the self-assembly and stabilization of polyurethane micelles. By regulating the ratio of oppositely charged moieties, micelles exhibit tunable biological properties. The study provides rational guidance for the design and fabrication of GQA polymer micelles.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY B
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Jiadi Ying, Yuqing Lin, Yiren Zhang, Yan Jin, Hideto Matsuyama, Jianguo Yu
Summary: This study reports a novel cation exchange membrane (CEM) engineered by coating a multilayer [polyethyleneimine/polystyrene sulfonate (PEI/PSS)]n on a polyacrylate substrate membrane. The newly developed CEM exhibits high selectivity for Li+ and Mg2+, demonstrating competitive separation performance compared to state-of-the-art permselective membranes.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shuang Jiang, Nicholas A. Kotov
Summary: Chiral inorganic nanostructures have a strong interaction with photons, leading to a change in their polarization state and the emission of circularly polarized light. Understanding these polarization effects is important for various chemical and biological processes, as well as the development of chiral photonics. The interpretation of these effects is dependent on the structural parameters of the nanostructures, and there are different types of nanomaterials that exhibit either dominant circularly polarized luminescence or circularly polarized scattering.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Optics
Lukas Ohnoutek, Ji-Young Kim, Jun Lu, Ben J. Olohan, Dora M. Rasadean, G. Dan Pantos, Nicholas A. Kotov, Ventsislav K. Valev
Summary: The study demonstrates the third-harmonic Mie scattering optical activity in suspensions of semiconductor nanostructured helices, allowing for chiroptical characterization of sample volumes as small as 10(-17) m(3). The new experimental results open up possibilities for high-throughput chiroptical characterization of chiral compounds in ultrasmall volumes.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hewei Zhao, Shaojia Liu, Yan Wei, Yonghai Yue, Mingrui Gao, Yangbei Li, Xiaolong Zeng, Xuliang Deng, Nicholas A. Kotov, Lin Guo, Lei Jiang
Summary: Accurate replication and scalable production of high-performance biomaterials are challenging, but a newly engineered enamel analog with hierarchical structure at multiple scales shows promising results.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Junyoung Kwon, Ki Hyun Park, Won Jin Choi, Nicholas A. Kotov, Jihyeon Yeom
Summary: Chirality is found in various scales in the universe and living creatures. This article discusses the state of the art spectroscopic methods for analyzing chiral nanomaterials at different photon wavelengths, with a focus on self-organized hierarchical chirality and single-particle spectroscopy.
ACCOUNTS OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Anastasia Visheratina, Alexander Visheratin, Prashant Kumar, Michael Veksler, Nicholas A. Kotov
Summary: Nanoscale chirality is a rapidly advancing research field that studies the properties and activities of chiral nanostructures. Computational identification of chirality from electron microscopy images is challenging due to ambiguity in differentiating left-handed and right-handed particles and the two-dimensional projection of the three-dimensional structure. In this study, deep learning algorithms were shown to accurately identify and classify twisted bowtie-shaped microparticles as left-handed or right-handed. The algorithm, trained on a small set of electron microscopy images, demonstrated the ability to recognize other chiral shapes with high accuracy, indicating its true learning abilities.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
E. Sumeyra Turali-Emre, Ahmet E. Emre, Drew A. Vecchio, Usha Kadiyala, J. Scott VanEpps, Nicholas A. Kotov
Summary: Self-assembled multicompartment supraparticles (mSPs) are formed from FeS2 nanoparticles (NPs) stabilized by l-cysteine. These mSPs contain approximately 340 interconnected compartments with an average size of approximately 5 nm, encapsulating biological cargo such as DNA. The temperature stability of the DNA cargo is enhanced compared to traditional delivery vehicles, making biomimetic compartmentalized particles a promising tool for various bioapplications.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Prashant Kumar, Alexander Simon, Nicholas A. Kotov
Summary: Circularly polarized light interacts with biomolecules to generate spectral fingerprints reflecting their structure. Coupling biomolecules with noble metal plasmonic assemblies transfers the spectral features to visible and near-infrared regions. Nanoscale gold tetrahelices can detect chiral objects 40 times smaller in size using plane-polarized light. Chiral hotspots between tetrahelices differentiate between weakly scattering S- and R-molecules. Simulations show enantiomeric discrimination with selectivity up to 0.54.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Inho Song, Jaeyong Ahn, Hyungju Ahn, Sang Hyuk Lee, Jianguo Mei, Nicholas A. Kotov, Joon Hak Oh
Summary: In this study, a simple and powerful method was used to fabricate chiroptical flexible layers through supramolecular helical ordering of conjugated polymer chains. The multiscale chirality and optical activity of these layers can be varied across a broad spectral range by chiral templating. After template removal, chromophores remain in one-dimensional helical nanofibrils, producing a homogeneous chiroptical layer with drastically enhanced polarization-dependent absorbance, enabling well-resolved detection and visualization of the spin angular momentum (SAM) of photons. This study provides a scalable path towards on-chip detection of the spin degree of freedom of photons necessary for encoded quantum information processing and high-resolution polarization imaging.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nicholas A. Kotov
NATIONAL SCIENCE REVIEW
(2023)
Editorial Material
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Jeanne Crassous, Matthew J. Fuchter, Danna E. Freedman, Nicholas A. Kotov, Jooho Moon, Matthew C. Beard, Sascha Feldmann
Summary: Solution-processable semiconductors based on small molecules, polymers or halide perovskites combine sustainable manufacturing with exceptional optoelectronic properties that can be chemically tailored to achieve flexible and highly efficient optoelectronic and photonic devices. A new exciting research direction is the study of the influence of chirality on light-matter interactions in these soft materials and its exploitation for the simultaneous control of charge, spin and light. In this Viewpoint, researchers working on different types of chiral semiconductors discuss the most interesting directions in this rapidly expanding field.
NATURE REVIEWS MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Paolo Elvati, Chloe Luyet, Yichun Wang, Changjiang Liu, J. Scott VanEpps, Nicholas A. Kotov, Angela Violi
Summary: This study focuses on the characterization of PSM alpha 1 amyloid nanofibers in Staphylococcus aureus biofilms. Computational and experimental techniques were used to develop a model for designing compounds to control amyloid formation. The research found that the amyloid nanofibers have a helical structure formed by two protofilaments, with an average diameter of about 12 nm and a left-handed helicity with a periodicity of approximately 72 nm.
ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sung-Won Hwang, Chung-Man Lim, Cong Truc Huynh, Hossein Moghimianavval, Nicholas A. Kotov, Eben Alsberg, Allen P. Liu
Summary: This study presents a strategy to confer mechano-responsive behavior on hydrogels by embedding hybrid vesicles. Under mechanical stress, these vesicles release encapsulated compounds that control the hydrogel network, offering promise for diverse biomedical applications.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Editorial Material
Chemistry, Physical
Yu Chen, Gemma-Louise Davies, Anders Hagfeldt, Nicholas Kotov
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Douglas G. Montjoy, Elizabeth A. K. Wilson, Harrison Hou, Joel D. Graves, Nicholas A. Kotov
Summary: By assembling spiky micro-nanoparticles of metal oxides into complex "hedgehog" particles (HPs) with enhanced dispersibility, effective photo-oxidation of liquid cyclohexane can be achieved, demonstrating the potential of these inorganic photocatalysts for "green" catalysis.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yuan Cao, Bingcheng Luo, Atif Javaid, Hong Ju Jung, Tao Ma, Chung-Man Lim, Ahmet Emre, Xiaohui Wang, Nicholas A. Kotov
Summary: This study investigates the mechanisms of charge storage in complex nanostructured materials using a model system of FeSe2 hedgehog particles (HPs). It was found that the HPs can accommodate a higher charge density and have improved charge storage capacity due to the hole transport and reversible atomic conformations of the FeSe2 layers. The dispersibility of the HPs also enables easy integration into energy storage devices.