From waste to strength: Tailor-made enzyme activation design transformation of denatured soy meal into high-performance all-biomass adhesive.

Given the severe protein denaturation and self-aggregation during the high-temperature desolubilization, denatured soy meal (DSM) is limited by its low reactivity, high viscosity, and poor water solubility. Preparing low-cost and high-performance adhesives with DSM as the key feedstock is still challenging. Herein, this study reveals a double-enzyme co-activation method targeting DSM with the glycosidic bonds in protein-carbohydrate complexes and partial amide bonds in protein, increasing the protein dispersion index from 10.2 % to 75.1 % improves the reactivity of DSM. The green crosslinker transglutaminase (TGase) constructs a robust adhesive isopeptide bond network with high water-resistant bonding strength comparable to chemical crosslinkers. The adhesive has demonstrated high dry/wet shear strength (2.56 and 0.93 MPa) for plywood. After molecular recombination by enzyme strategy, the adhesive had the proper viscosity, high reactivity, and strong water resistance. This research showcases a novel perspective on developing a DSM-based adhesive and blazes new avenues for changes in protein structural function and adhesive performance.

Scalable Manufacturing of Environmentally Stable All-Solid-State Plant Protein-Based Supercapacitors with Optimal Balance of Capacitive Performance and Mechanically Robust.

The development of advanced biomaterial with mechanically robust and high energy density is critical for flexible electronics, such as batteries and supercapacitors. Plant proteins are ideal candidates for making flexible electronics due to their renewable and eco-friendly natures. However, due to the weak intermolecular interactions and abundant hydrophilic groups of protein chains, the mechanical properties of protein-based materials, especially in bulk materials, are largely constrained, which hinders their performance in practical applications. Here, a green and scalable method is shown for the fabrication of advanced film biomaterials with high mechanical strength (36.3 MPa), toughness (21.25 MJ m-3 ), and extraordinary fatigue-resistance (213 000 times) by incorporating tailor-made core-double-shell structured nanoparticles. Subsequently, the film biomaterials combine to construct an ordered, dense bulk material by stacking-up and hot-pressing techniques. Surprisingly, the solid-state supercapacitor based on compacted bulk material shows an ultrahigh energy density of 25.8 Wh kg-1 , which is much higher than those previously reported advanced materials. Notably, the bulk material also demonstrates long-term cycling stability, which can be maintained under ambient condition or immersed in H2 SO4 electrolyte for more than 120 days. Thus, this research improves the competitiveness of protein-based materials for real-world applications such as flexible electronics and solid-state supercapacitors.

"Green" Flexible Electronics: Biodegradable and Mechanically Strong Soy Protein-Based Nanocomposite Films for Human Motion Monitoring.

Soy protein isolate (SPI) is envisioned as a promising alternative to fabricate "green" flexible electronics, showing great potential in the field of flexible wearable electronics. However, it is challenging to simultaneously achieve conductive film-based human motion-monitoring strain sensors with reliable fatigue resistance, robust mechanical property, environmental degradability, and sensing capability of human motions. Herein, we prepared a series of SPI-based nanocomposite films by embedding a surface-hydroxylated high-dielectric constant inorganic filler, BaTiO3, (HBT) as interspersed nanoparticles into a biodegradable SPI substrate. In particular, the fabricated film comprising 0.5 wt % HBT and glycerin (GL), namely, SPI-HBT0.5-GL0.5, presents multifunctional properties, including a combination of excellent toughness, tensile strength, conductivity, translucence, recyclability, and excellent thermal stability. Meanwhile, this multifunctional film could be simply degraded in phosphate buffered saline solution and does not cause any pollution to the environment. Attractively, wearable sensors prepared with this particular material (SPI-HBT0.5-GL0.5) displayed excellent biocompatibility, prevented the occurrence of an immune response, and could accurately monitor various types of human joint motions and successfully remain operable after 10,000 cycles. These properties make the developed SPI-based film a great candidate in formulating biobased and multifunctional wearable electronics.

Nacre-Inspired Strong and Multifunctional Soy Protein-Based Nanocomposite Materials for Easy Heat-Dissipative Mobile Phone Shell.

Inspired by the hierarchically ordered "brick and mortar" (BM) architecture of natural nacre, in this study a rational assembly of boron nitride (BN) nanosheets was introduced into a mixture of trimethylolpropane triglycidyl ether (TTE) and soy protein isolate (SPI), and a strong and multifunctional SPI-based nanocomposite film with multinetwork structure was synthesized. At a low BN loading (<0.5%), the resulting multifunctional film was flexible, antiultraviolet, and nearly transparent and also displayed good thermal diffusion ability and exhibited an excellent combination of high tensile strength (36.4 MPa) and thermal conductivity (TC, 2.40 W·m-1·K-1), surpassing the performances of various types of petroleum-based plastics (displayed a tensile strength ranging from 1.9 to 21 MPa and TC ranging from 0.55-2.13 W·m-1·K-1), including nine different types of materials currently utilized for mobile phone shells, suggesting its vast potential in practical applications.

Processed Bamboo as a Novel Formaldehyde-Free High-Performance Furniture Biocomposite.

We used an innovative approach involving hot pressing, low energy consumption, and no adhesive to transform bamboo biomass into a natural sustainable fiber-based biocomposite for structural and furniture applications. Analyses showed strong internal bonding through mechanical "nail-like" nano substances, hydrogen, and ester and ether bonds. The biocomposite encompasses a 10-fold increase in internal bonding strength with improved water resistance, fire safety, and environmentally friendly properties as compared to existing furniture materials using hazardous formaldehyde-based adhesives. As compared to natural bamboo material, this new biocomposite has improved fire and water resistance, while there is no need for toxic adhesives (mostly made from formaldehyde-based resin), which eases the concern of harmful formaldehyde-based VOC emission and ensures better indoor air quality. This surpasses existing structural and furniture materials made by synthetic adhesives. Interestingly, our approach can 100% convert discarded bamboo biomass into this biocomposite, which represents a potentially cost reduction alternative with high revenue. The underlying fragment riveting and cell collapse binding are obviously a new technology approach that offers an economically and sustainable high-performance biocomposite that provides solutions to structural and furniture materials bound with synthetic adhesives.

Biological analysis on extractives of bayberry fresh flesh by GC-MS.

Bayberry has been largely planted in China, and the waste of fresh flesh of bayberry was still abandoned. Therefore, the extractives of fresh flesh of bayberry were studied to further utilize the bio-resources. Through the Foss method, the result shown that ketone, aldehyde, ester and acid compounds were accounted for 1.30, 92.61, 0.54 and 6.09% of the extractives which were extracted from fresh flesh of bayberry by methanol solvents. Aldehyde, bicyclic sesquiterpenes, acid, ester and alcohol compounds accounted for 53.74, 9.95, 28.49, 6.79 and 1.05% of the extractives which were extracted from fresh flesh of bayberry by ethanol solvents. Ketone, aldehyde, carbohydrate, acid and ester compounds accounted for 4.77, 77.95, 12.06, 4.77 and 0.44% of the extractives which were extracted from fresh flesh of bayberry by ethyl acetate solvents. The extractives of fresh flesh of bayberry were rich in rare drug and biomedical activities and the ethanol is more better to extract the fresh flesh of bayberry.

Properties of nonvolatile and antibacterial bioboard produced from bamboo macromolecules by hot pressing.

Employing the antibacterial property of industrial bamboo vinegar (IBV) and the photocatalytic degradation of TiO2, bamboo macromolecules were pretreated and processed into nonvolatile and antibacterial bio board (NVABB). The NVABB was then analyzed by conducting Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis. Results show that NVABB samples had average density of 0.96 g/cm3, which is appropriate for application. In terms of physical and mechanical properties, the best NVABB sample obtained from IBV, TiO2 and bamboo had an IBV pretreatment time of 10 min, 2% TiO2 and 1% bamboo charcoal. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy demonstrated that optimum conditions for hot pressing were a temperature of 170 °C, duration of 15 min and the addition of IBV and TiO2. Thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis curves suggest that the thermal degradation of NVABB was less than that of bamboo and that hot pressing obviously increased the thermal stability of HDBB samples. Analysis of the antimicrobial effect revealed that IBV pretreatment improves the antibacterial property of NVABB.

Study on biomolecules in extractives of Camellia oleifera fruit shell by GC-MS.

This study aims to present an integrated process that can be used to produce biomedical and biological active components from the fruit shell of Camellia oleifera Abel. Through the Foss method, Aldehyde, acid compounds, acyl and alcohol compounds account for 22.7, 15.93, 0.24 and 61.13% of the extractives which were extracted from Camellia oleifera fruit shell by methanol solvents. Furfural, Pyrazole-4-carboxaldehyde, 1-methyl- and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural account for 4.74, 1.22 and 58.78% of the extractives which were extracted from the fruit shell of Camellia oleifera Abel by ethanol solvents. Aldehyde, acid and amine compounds account for 5.01, 56.18 and 7.20% of the extractives which were extracted from the fruit shell of Camellia oleifera Abel by ethyl acetate solvents. The extractives of fresh flesh of bayberry were rich in rare drug, biomedical and biological activities.