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The problem of droplets impacting rough wall has always been a hot spot in the engineering field. In this paper, the single-component multiphase lattice Boltzmann method is used to construct the wall microstructure, and the dynamic behavior characteristics of droplets impacting rough walls are simulated. The results show that the final state of a droplet impacting rectangular microstructure shows that the hydrophilic surface is more hydrophilic and the hydrophobic surface is more hydrophobic, and compared with the smooth surface, the microstructure surface hinders the rebound of the droplet, and the application of microstructure on the wall can promote the spreading of a droplet on the wall.

A critical step in proteomics analysis is the optimal extraction and processing of protein material to ensure the highest sensitivity in downstream detection. Achieving this requires a sample-handling technology that exhibits unbiased protein manipulation, flexibility in reagent use, and virtually lossless processing. Addressing these needs, the single-pot, solid-phase-enhanced sample-preparation (SP3) technology is a paramagnetic bead–based approach for rapid, robust, and efficient processing of protein samples for proteomic analysis. SP3 uses a hydrophilic interaction mechanism for exchange or removal of components that are commonly used to facilitate cell or tissue lysis, protein solubilization, and enzymatic digestion (e.g., detergents, chaotropes, salts, buffers, acids, and solvents) before downstream proteomic analysis. The SP3 protocol consists of nonselective protein binding and rinsing steps that are enabled through the use of ethanol-driven solvation capture on the surface of hydrophilic beads, and elution of purified material in aqueous conditions. In contrast to alternative approaches, SP3 combines compatibility with a substantial collection of solution additives with virtually lossless and unbiased recovery of proteins independent of input quantity, all in a simplified single-tube protocol. The SP3 protocol is simple and efficient, and can be easily completed by a standard user in ~30 min, including reagent preparation. As a result of these properties, SP3 has successfully been used to facilitate examination of a broad range of sample types spanning simple and complex protein mixtures in large and very small amounts, across numerous organisms. This work describes the steps and extensive considerations involved in performing SP3 in bottom-up proteomics, using a simplified protein cleanup scenario for illustration. This protocol describes a single-pot, solid-phase-enhanced sample-preparation (SP3) method for rapid, robust, and efficient processing of protein samples for proteomic analysis.

It is of great significance to synthesize carbon dots (CDs) with desirable hydrophilicity for the ever-growing application of CDs in different fields. In this study, the hydrophilic and hydrophobic CDs were facilely prepared by solvothermal treatment of o -dihydroxybenzene and urea in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). Optimization experiments revealed that the solvothermal temperature has a great impact on the surface states of the CDs. The hydrophobic CDs with a contact angle of 110.7° was obtained at 200 °C. The structural and optical characterizations, along with theoretical calculations elucidated that the lipophilic nature of the CDs was resulting from the formation of polymer chains. The presence of extended conjugated sp 2 -domains and amino groups contributed to the red emission of the CDs synthesized at low reaction temperatures (160–200 °C). With the further increase of solvothermal temperature, the hydrophobic CDs were gradually transformed to the hydrophilic state accompanying the blue shift of the fluorescence of the CDs. The highly hydrophilic CDs with a contact angle of 25.9° were obtained at 240 °C due to the increased formation of hydrophilic functional groups on the surface of CDs. The red emissive CDs exhibited a sensitive color and fluorescence response to ethanol content while the fluorescence of the blue emissive CDs remained constant. By combining the two kinds of CDs, a dual-emission sensor was constructed, which was successfully applied for the evaluation of the alcoholic strength in commercial Baijiu commodities in both fluorometric and colorimetric modes.

The discovery of moiré superlattices (MSLs) opened an era in the research of ‘twistronics’. Engineering MSLs and realizing unique emergent properties are key challenges. Herein, we demonstrate an effective synthetic strategy to fabricate MSLs based on mechanical flexibility of WS 2 nanobelts by a facile one-step hydrothermal method. Unlike previous MSLs typically created through stacking monolayers together with complicated method, WS 2 MSLs reported here could be obtained directly during synthesis of nanobelts driven by the mechanical instability. Emergent properties are found including superior conductivity, special superaerophobicity and superhydrophilicity, and strongly enhanced electro-catalytic activity when we apply ‘twistronics’ to the field of catalytic hydrogen production. Theoretical calculations show that such excellent catalytic performance could be attributed to a closer to thermoneutral hydrogen adsorption free energy value of twisted bilayers active sites. Our findings provide an exciting opportunity to design advanced WS 2 catalysts through moiré superlattice engineering based on mechanical flexibility. Expanding the available materials with moiré superlattices is interesting but also challenging. Here the authors use a one-step hydrothermal approach to synthesis WS 2 moiré superlattices with high catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction

Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is one of the most promising cellulose derivatives. Due to its characteristic surface properties, mechanical strength, tunable hydrophilicity, viscous properties, availability and abundance of raw materials, low-cost synthesis process, and likewise many contrasting aspects, it is now widely used in various advanced application fields, for example, food, paper, textile, and pharmaceutical industries, biomedical engineering, wastewater treatment, energy production, and storage energy production, and storage and so on. Many research articles have been reported on CMC, depending on their sources and application fields. Thus, a comprehensive and well-organized review is in great demand that can provide an up-to-date and in-depth review on CMC. Herein, this review aims to provide compact information of the synthesis to the advanced applications of this material in various fields. Finally, this article covers the insights of future CMC research that could guide researchers working in this prominent field.

A visual experimental study is conducted on a droplet impacting an inclined hydrophilic surface. By varying impact velocity and inclination angle, droplets exhibit sliding, trailing sliding, and sliding breakup. Increasing the impact velocity results in a larger spreading diameter, which transforms the droplet from sliding to trailing sliding. A larger inclination angle inhibits droplet spreading during the spreading phase but promotes droplet sliding during the retraction phase. Both increased impact velocity and inclination angle enhance the sliding velocity of the leading edge, promoting droplet breakup sliding.

Smart membranes with responsive wettability show promise for controllably separating oil/water mixtures, including immiscible oil-water mixtures and surfactant-stabilized oil/water emulsions. However, the membranes are challenged by unsatisfactory external stimuli, inadequate wettability responsiveness, difficulty in scalability and poor self-cleaning performance. Here, we develop a capillary force-driven confinement self-assembling strategy to construct a scalable and stable CO 2 -responsive membrane for the smart separation of various oil/water systems. In this process, the CO 2 -responsive copolymer can homogeneously adhere to the membrane surface by manipulating the capillary force, generating a membrane with a large area up to 3600 cm 2 and excellent switching wettability between high hydrophobicity/underwater superoleophilicity and superhydrophilicity/underwater superoleophobicity under CO 2 /N 2 stimulation. The membrane can be applied to various oil/water systems, including immiscible mixtures, surfactant-stabilized emulsions, multiphase emulsions and pollutant-containing emulsions, demonstrating high separation efficiency (>99.9%), recyclability, and self-cleaning performance. Due to robust separation properties coupled with the excellent scalability, the membrane shows great implications for smart liquid separation. Smart membranes with responsive wettability show promise for controllably separating oil/water mixtures but it remains challenging to fabricate responsive and stable scalable membranes. Here, the authors develop a capillary force-driven self-assembling strategy to construct a scalable and stable CO2-responsive membrane for the smart separation of various oil/water systems.

Hydrogels are highly cross-linked polymer networks that are heavily swollen with water. Hydrogels have been used as dynamic, tunable, degradable materials for growing cells and tissues. Zhang and Khademhosseini review the advances in making hydrogels with improved mechanical strength and greater flexibility for use in a wide range of applications. Science , this issue p. eaaf3627 Hydrogels are formed from hydrophilic polymer chains surrounded by a water-rich environment. They have widespread applications in various fields such as biomedicine, soft electronics, sensors, and actuators. Conventional hydrogels usually possess limited mechanical strength and are prone to permanent breakage. Further, the lack of dynamic cues and structural complexity within the hydrogels has limited their functions. Recent developments include engineering hydrogels that possess improved physicochemical properties, ranging from designs of innovative chemistries and compositions to integration of dynamic modulation and sophisticated architectures. We review major advances in designing and engineering hydrogels and strategies targeting precise manipulation of their properties across multiple scales.

As nanotechnology floods application areas like medicine, electronics, water remediation, space and textiles, just to name a few, some nanomaterials remain in the spotlight due to their fantastic properties and their incredible potential. Such is the case of the 2D, transparent, flexible, strong, carbon-based nanomaterial called graphene. Graphene consists of sp2 hybridized carbon arranged in a flat network packed in a honey-comb pattern, having thus mono-atomic thickness. Its isolation in 2004 opened the door to numerous investigations and its research is funded each year by governments, industries and academia worldwide. Due to its non-hydrophilic nature, some applications represent a challenge (particularly biological and medical applications), thus an oxygen/hydrogen-functionalized hydrophilic version of it has lately gained popularity, its name is graphene oxide. This document aims to review the synthesis methods of graphene, graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide. A revision of the most important top-down and bottom-up methods is presented, focusing on chemical vapor deposition for the growth of graphene and the wet-chemical methods for the synthesis of graphene oxide and the reduction techniques available for reduced graphene oxide. We conclude by analyzing the current situation of graphene and graphene oxide production and the challenges that need to be tackled in order to meet the short-term demand of these nanomaterials for the promised applications.

Capillary condensation of water is ubiquitous in nature and technology. It routinely occurs in granular and porous media, can strongly alter such properties as adhesion, lubrication, friction and corrosion, and is important in many processes used by microelectronics, pharmaceutical, food and other industries 1 – 4 . The century-old Kelvin equation 5 is frequently used to describe condensation phenomena and has been shown to hold well for liquid menisci with diameters as small as several nanometres 1 – 4 , 6 – 14 . For even smaller capillaries that are involved in condensation under ambient humidity and so of particular practical interest, the Kelvin equation is expected to break down because the required confinement becomes comparable to the size of water molecules 1 – 22 . Here we use van der Waals assembly of two-dimensional crystals to create atomic-scale capillaries and study condensation within them. Our smallest capillaries are less than four ångströms in height and can accommodate just a monolayer of water. Surprisingly, even at this scale, we find that the macroscopic Kelvin equation using the characteristics of bulk water describes the condensation transition accurately in strongly hydrophilic (mica) capillaries and remains qualitatively valid for weakly hydrophilic (graphite) ones. We show that this agreement is fortuitous and can be attributed to elastic deformation of capillary walls 23 – 25 , which suppresses the giant oscillatory behaviour expected from the commensurability between the atomic-scale capillaries and water molecules 20 , 21 . Our work provides a basis for an improved understanding of capillary effects at the smallest scale possible, which is important in many realistic situations. In the tiniest of capillaries, barely larger than a water molecule, condensation is surprisingly predictable from the macroscopic Kelvin condensation equation, a coincidence partially owing to elastic deformation of the capillary walls.