SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
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2024
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IF 8.2
Zongwu Wei,Xuzhe Zhang,Yingzhan Chen,Hongjie Liu,Shaopeng Wang,Man Zhang,Honglin Ma,Kefu Yu,Liwei Wang
Population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) seriously threaten the sustainability of coral reef ecosystems. However, traditional ecological monitoring techniques cannot provide early warning before the outbreaks, thus preventing timely intervention. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a more accurate and faster technology to predict the outbreaks of COTS. In this work, we developed an electrochemical biosensor based on a programmed catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) and hybridization chain reaction (HCR) cyclic amplification strategy for sensitive and selective detection of COTS environmental DNA (eDNA) in water bodies. This biosensor exhibited excellent electrochemical characteristics, including a low limit of detection (LOD = 18.4 fM), low limit of quantification (LOQ = 41.1 fM), and wide linear range (50 fM – 10 nM). The biosensing technology successfully allowed the detection of COTS eDNA in the aquarium environment, and the results also demonstrated a significant correlation between eDNA concentration and COTS number ( r = 0.990; P < 0.001). The reliability and accuracy of the biosensor results have been further validated through comparison with digital droplet PCR (ddPCR). Moreover, the applicability and accuracy of the biosensor were reconfirmed in field tests at the COTS outbreak site in the South China Sea, which has shown potential application in dynamically monitoring the larvae before the COTS outbreak. Therefore, this efficient electrochemical biosensing technology offers a new solution for on-site monitoring and early warning of the COTS outbreak.
研究领域:
海洋生物学
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环境科学
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分析化学
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产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
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2024
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IF 13.3
Yuanming Ye,Jun Guo,An Wang,Chengxiang Zheng,Tao Wu,Zhipeng Chen,Xuanqi Wang,Yichen Chu,Ruiyu Bai,Zekai Liang,Honglong Chang,Kai Tao,Tengjiao Wang,Bowen Ji
Underwater surface electromyography (UW-sEMG) acquisition with long-term high quality is crucial to underwater activities, including rehabilitation, fatigue measurement, and sports monitoring. However, most UW-sEMG electrodes suffer significant performance decline, especially for hydrogel electrodes, due to the swelling-induced mechanical, electrical, and adhesive degradation. Maintaining high performance underwater over extended periods is challenging. The controlled underwater adhesion-detachment behavior of starfish is inspirative. Here, a starfish tube feet-inspired hydrogel (STFH) electrode is developed for UW-sEMG recording, including a micro-swelling hydrogel pillar, a biomimetic silicone sucker, and an Ag/AgCl disc electrode. By soaking freeze-dried hydrophilic hydrogel in tannic acid (TA) solution, the hydrogel exhibits skin-like modulus of 22.4 kPa, low skin impedance of 18.3 kΩ (10 Hz) and low equilibrium swelling ratio. Unlike traditional strategies for improving anti-swelling properties, this work leverages the interaction between the sucker and the swollen hydrogel to promote conformal contact. Consequently, the sEMG signal exhibits SNR of 26.7 dB and baseline noise of 12.8 μV even after 60 min of underwater working. The STFH electrode also shows anti-noise capability to resist skin vibration and wave oscillation. This STFH electrode enables durable UW-sEMG acquisition, which could further extend from the arm to the wrist to adapt wearing habits.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
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材料科学
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神经工程
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产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
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2023
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IF 19
Yiming Zhao,Yue Chen,Xiaoyu Song,Yuan Li,Limin Zhang,Yeqiao Meng,Xiaolai Zhang,Xiaoyong Qiu,Jun Huang
Many soft animals like starfish have developed armors to protect their soft bodies in order to survive in harsh environment. Inspired by this fact, special hydrogels with self-growing protective armors are developed by allowing sodium acetate to crystallize on hydrogel surface. Poly(acrylic acid) chains limit the crystalline region to the surface of the hydrogel by decreasing the pH value and limiting the movement of ions, and then creating a set of tough armor. This armor-protected hydrogel is able to withstand a high pressure (> 78 MPa) under cutting and prevent the penetration of sharp objects. Interestingly, the unique stimulated-precipitation mechanism allows the armor to repair itself after damage. Besides, the surface of hydrogel changes from “sticky” to “slippery”, which also helps to improve its protective ability. Moreover, the armor helps to retrain water in hydrogel network, and significantly improve the mechanical properties of hydrogels (maximum compressive stress >18 MPa, compressive strain > 90%). In addition, the hydrogel can keep soft and work durably at extreme temperatures (−50 °C and 80 °C) due to the high salt concentration. This study provides an innovative approach for designing armor-protected hydrogels with great potential in engineering applications such as actuators and sensors for harsh environments.
研究领域:
材料科学
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仿生学
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机械工程
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化学工程
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产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Applied Polymer Materials
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2024
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IF 4.4
Xuemeng Xia,Jian Meng,Jingjing Qin,Guozheng Yang,Pengyang Xuan,Yunpeng Huang,Wei Fan,Yao Gu,Feili Lai,Tianxi Liu
Inspired by natural organisms, a four-dimensional (4D)-printed starfish-like bionic soft robot (SBSR) was effectively prepared by integrating three-dimensional (3D) printing with smart hydrogels. The body of the SBSR is composed of a reduced graphene oxide-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel (rGO-PNH) with superior mechanical properties. In addition, the enhanced photothermal conversion effect was obtained by the reduction of graphene oxide nanosheets after the 3D printing process. Cylindrical actuators prepared using rGO-PNH exhibited bending and orientation toward the light source within 20 s of exposure to near-infrared light, thus demonstrating the rapid photoresponsivity of rGO-PNH. Furthermore, the 4D-printed SBSR showcased effective grasping, lifting, and releasing of objects by mimicking the predatory behavior of starfish. This study would provide insights into the development of responsive materials in 4D printable bionic soft robots and their applications in areas such as biomimetic devices and artificial muscles.
研究领域:
材料科学
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机器人技术
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仿生学
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纳米技术
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产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Nano Energy
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2024
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IF 16.8
Yongji Li,Zhongyuan Tian,Changjun Li,Zheng Li,Zhong-Zhen Yu,Dan Yang
Soft actuators with biomimetic behavior have widely been utilized in intelligent robotics and artificial muscles. Herein, tannic acid (TA) non-covalently modified and γ-methacrylic trimethoxysilane (MPS) covalently modified MXene (MPS-TA-MXene) are incorporated into a poly(n-isopropylacrylamide-polyacrylamide) (PNIPAM-PAM) copolymer hydrogel to yield a light-responsive hydrogel nanocomposite, denoted as MNA. TA effectively preserves the surface characteristics of MXene while the double bonds in MPS form covalent bonding between MXene and PNIPAM-PAM copolymer, ensuring uniform dispersion of MPS-TA-MXene in MNA hydrogel. Under exposure to ultraviolet light, the resulting MNA hydrogel actuators with nematode- or starfish-shaped exhibit not only bending capabilities in various directions and angles but also demonstrate remarkable multiple-freedom rolling behavior in water environments due to their volume shrinkage induced by the phase transition of MNA hydrogel. Overall, the proposed simply assembled MNA hydrogel actuators with multiple and continuous bionic motions, distinguishing them from conventional single soft actuators limited to bending in one specific direction or performing a simple singular action of rolling, look promising for use in underwater exploration.
研究领域:
材料科学
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机器人技术
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纳米技术
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生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子