Octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch with excellent emulsifying properties prepared by selective hydrolysis of supramolecular immobilized enzyme.

Octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch is a common green and safe emulsifier. Although the conventional pretreatment method of free enzyme hydrolysis increases the hydroxyl content on the starch surface, thus improving the grafting degree of octenyl succinic anhydride and the amphiphilicity of the modified starch, the amylose and amylopectin structures are indiscriminately hydrolyzed, reducing the emulsion stability of modified starch. In this work, α-amylase organic-inorganic hybrid nanoflower biocatalyst is designed and synthesized for pretreatment of synthetic octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch. The α-amylase organic-inorganic hybrid nanoflower biocatalyst with a unique micro-nano spatial structure can selectively hydrolyze the amylopectin and protect the amylose of starch. The amylose ratio of starch pretreated by nanoflower biocatalyst is about twice that of starch pretreated by free enzyme, reaching 22.62 %. Meanwhile, the granular structure of starch is not damaged. The obtained octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch exhibits a high degree of substitution, up to 0.0213. The emulsion prepared with this modified starch maintains excellent emulsifying properties and stability. This study provides a novel strategy for the preparation of octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch with excellent emulsifying properties, which promote the application of octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Molecular Modification of Lignin-Based Carbon Materials: Influence of Supramolecular Bonds on the Properties.

For the application of lignin-based materials, it is necessary to develop simple and efficient chemical modification strategies for lignin. In this work, the iodization modification strategy is selected to improve the specific surface area and graphitization degree of lignin-based carbon fibers. The introduction of an iodine atom can effectively increase the π electron cloud density of the lignin aromatic hydrocarbon structure. High π electron cloud density can effectively enhance the π-π interaction force between lignin molecules (the supramolecular bonds). The biomass precursors with this intermolecular microstructure exhibit good thermal stability and can maintain the original fibrous morphology during high-temperature treatment, which is beneficial for increasing the specific surface area of biomass-based carbon materials. Furthermore, this intermolecular microstructure also contributes to the graphitization of biomass precursor materials and reduces the spacing of graphite micro-lamellae. The obtained lignin-based carbon fibers with iodization modification exhibit a specific capacitance of 333 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g in the three-electrode tests in 6 M KOH solution. As the assembled supercapacitor, the specific capacitance of lignin-based carbon fibers reaches 87 F/g in 1 M Na2SO4 solution. Compared to other modification processes for raw materials, this strategy is simple and efficient and has reference value for the synthesis of other high-performance biomass-based materials.

Supramolecular Hydrogel Dressing: Effect of Lignin on the Self-Healing, Antibacterial, Antioxidant, and Biological Activity Improvement.

The functionalization and performance improvement of supramolecular hydrogels are very important for their application in the wound dressing field. Inspired by the role of lignin in plant cell walls, sulfonated lignin is introduced into the supramolecular hydrogel to improve functionality, mechanical strength, and biological activity. According to the chemical structure characteristics of the sulfonated lignin and the requirements for wound dressing, a novel polymer system is designed and successfully synthesized to cooperate with the sulfonated lignin to form the supramolecular hydrogel dressings. The introduction of the sulfonated lignin can effectively improve the mechanical strength, self-healing property, antioxidant activity, and biological activity of the obtained supramolecular hydrogel dressings. In the rat wound healing model experiment, the supramolecular hydrogel dressings can maintain the moist environment on the wound surface, clean up the excretion of wound tissue, promote wound healing, and reduce the occurrence of inflammation. This supramolecular hydrogel dressing shows obvious potential for wound management and treatment by a facile and effective approach and has great promise for long-term application of wound dressings. This strategy for designing polymers according to the chemical structure characteristics of the sulfonated lignin and the application requirements has reference value for further development of biomass-based compound materials.

A green flexible and wearable biosensor based on carbon nanofibers for sensitive detection of uric acid in artificial urine.

Wearable biosensors have great advantages and application potential in the field of real-time detection. However, it is still a challenge to construct an electrically conductive and mechanically flexible sensing interface as the working electrode in an electrochemical sensor. In this work, a green and efficient strategy is proposed to optimize the chemical structure of precursor materials for the preparation of a flexible biosensor. The introduction of phosphated lignin effectively increases the molecular interaction in the electrospinning system, improving the micro-morphology, flexibility, and thermal stability of biomass-based carbon nanofibers (CNFs). The rich active sites and high graphitization degree provide abundant access to uric acid molecules and accelerate electron transmission. Benefiting from these compelling features, the fabricated wearable biosensor can accurately and selectively detect uric acid in artificial urine. This work offers a promising approach for the fabrication of wearable biosensors and has a broad application prospect in personalized diagnostic and miniaturized power device fields.

The relationship between the dislocations and microstructure in In0.82Ga0.18As/InP heterostructures.

In this work, we propose a formation mechanism to explain the relationship between the surface morphology (and microstructure) and dislocations in the In0.82Ga0.18As/InP heterostructure. The In0.82Ga0.18As epitaxial layers were grown on the InP (100) substrate at various temperatures (430 °C, 410 °C and 390 °C) using low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD). Obvious protrusions and depressions were obseved on the surface of the In0.82Ga0.18As/InP heterostructure because of the movement of dislocations from the core to the surface. The surface morphologies of the In0.82Ga0.18As/InP (100) system became uneven with increasing temperature, which was associated with the formation of dislocations. Such research investigating the dislocation of large lattice mismatch heterostructures may play an important role in the future-design of semiconductor films.