Cutting-edge development in dendritic polymeric materials for biomedical and energy applications

Dendritic polymers (dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers) are becoming increasingly popular due to their vast range of uses. Due to their distinctive and novel qualities, they have demonstrated a strong interest. Since its discovery, dendritic polymers have become a potential material for many research applications, ranging from biomedical and tissue engineering to catalytic and energy applications. Since then, dendritic polymers' unique features have become a promising platform for a variety of uses. Dendritic polymers have made great progress in overcoming basic and technological problems related to their biomedical and energy applications. This review summarizes the strategies of synthesizing dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers. Further, the review highlights the applications of dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers in many study fields such as drug delivery, gene delivery, tissue engineering, catalysis, and energy storage. This review concludes with future avenues to be explored for the applications of dendritic polymers

History and Progress of Polymers for Energy Applications

Polymer materials have attracted the interest of researchers in recent years as electrode materials and electrolytes for a variety of energy applications such as supercapacitors, batteries, fuel cells, solar cells, and electrochromic devices. Over the last few decades, there has been a great deal of research into the potential applications of these materials. Conducting polymers, in particular, exhibit semiconductor-like properties, and they have emerged as fascinating materials for the fabrication of electronic devices. This chapter covers the history and progress of polymer materials in several energy applications divided into energy storage and energy conversion applications

Ferrocene functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes as supercapacitor electrodes

Modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) functionalized by a redox-active ferrocene (Fc-MWCNTs) were successfully synthesized to enhance the electrochemical performance of MWCNTs for supercapacitor application. The ferrocene moieties were attached to the surface of MWCNTs via a thiourea linker with anions-interacting capability. The Fc-MWCNTs were characterized using XPS, FTIR, SEM, TGA, DTG, and XRF methods. The electrochemical performance details were investigated using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The Fc-MWCNTs electrode showed excellent capacity retention (90.8% over 5000 cycles) and a specific capacitance of 50 F g−1 at 0.25 A g−1 that is several times higher as compared to the pristine MWCNTs. The fabricated Fc-MWCNTs is proposed to be a suitable and promising candidate for energy storage material. de

Glycopolymer-based materials : Synthesis, properties, and biosensing applications

Glycopolymer materials have emerged as a significant biopolymer class that has piqued the scientific community's attention due to their potential applications. Recently, they have been found to be a unique synthetic biomaterial; glycopolymer materials have also been used for various applications, including direct therapeutic methods, medical adhesives, drug/gene delivery systems, and biosensor applications. Therefore, for the next stage of biomaterial research, it is essential to understand current breakthroughs in glycopolymer-based materials research. This review discusses the most widely utilized synthetic methodologies for glycopolymer-based materials, their properties based on structure–function interactions, and the significance of these materials in biosensing applications, among other topics. When creating glycopolymer materials, contemporary polymerization methods allow precise control over molecular weight, molecular weight distribution, chemical activity, and polymer architecture. This review concludes with a discussion of the challenges and complexities of glycopolymer-based biosensors, in addition to their potential applications in the future. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Recent advances in electrospun fibrous membranes for effective chromium (VI) removal from water

The accumulation of heavy metals in aquatic environments is a significant environmental threat. Among the available methods for their removal, adsorption using nanofiber has been proven to be the most effective approach. The unique architecture of nanofibers provides them with intriguing features, such as high specific surface area and pore density, which makes them capable of removing harmful metals and a potential solution for various applications, including water treatment. This new generation of highly porous membranes is expected to have a promising future in separation applications due to its unique properties, including 90% porosity and 3D interconnected pore structure. Electrospinning is a well-regarded technique for creating such unique porous membranes. Among the various metal ions, chromium (Cr(VI)) removal has been extensively researched, and electrospun nanofiber membranes have proven to be an effective adsorbent. The objective of this review is to provide up-to-date information on the most common ways that electrospun nanofiber membranes are utilized for the removal of Cr(VI) ions from water. The findings indicate that electrospun fibrous materials are effective in eliminating Cr(VI) and establish their suitability for decontaminating polluted water. However, further attention is required to enhance the stability, mechanical strength, and reusability of these fibrous membranes

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) based nanofiber architectures for the removal of heavy metal ions

Environmental heavy metal ions (HMIs) accumulate in living organisms and cause various diseases. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have proven to be promising and effective materials for removing heavy metal ions from contaminated water because of their high porosity, remarkable physical and chemical properties, and high specific surface area. MOFs are self-assembling metal ions or clusters with organic linkers. Metals are used as dowel pins to build two-dimensional or three-dimensional frameworks, and organic linkers serve as carriers. Modern research has mainly focused on designing MOFs-based materials with improved adsorption and separation properties. In this review, for the first time, an in-depth look at the use of MOFs nanofiber materials for HMIs removal applications is provided. This review will focus on the synthesis, properties, and recent advances and provide an understanding of the opportunities and challenges that will arise in the synthesis of future MOFs-nanofiber composites in this area. MOFs decorated on nanofibers possess rapid adsorption kinetics, a high adsorption capacity, excellent selectivity, and good reusability. In addition, the substantial adsorption capacities are mainly due to interactions between the target ions and functional binding groups on the MOFs-nanofiber composites and the highly ordered porous structure

Taguchi L25 (54) approach for methylene blue removal by polyethylene terephthalate nanofiber‐multi‐walled carbon nanotube composite

A membrane composed of polyethylene terephthalate nanofiber and multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (PET NF‐MWCNTs) composite is used to adsorb methylene blue (MB) dye from an aqueous solution. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X‐ ray diffraction techniques are employed to study the surface properties of the adsorbent. Several parameters affecting dye adsorption (pH, MB dye initial concentration, PET NF‐MWCNTs dose, and contact time) are optimized for optimal removal efficiency (R, %) by using the Taguchi L25 (54) Orthogonal Array approach. According to the ANOVA results, pH has the highest contributing percentage at 71.01%, suggesting it has the most significant impact on removal efficiency. The adsorbent dose is the second most affected (12.08%), followed by the MB dye initial concentration of 5.91%, and the least affected is the contact time (1.81%). In addition, experimental findings confirm that the Langmuir isotherm is well‐fitted, suggesting a monolayer capping of MB dye on the PET‐NF‐MWCNT surface with a maximum adsorption capacity of 7.047 mg g−1. Also, the kinetic results are well‐suited to the pseudo‐second‐order model. There is a good agreement between the calculated (qe) and experimental values for the pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model

Al3+ ion intercalation pseudocapacitance study of W18O49 nanostructure

Intercalation pseudocapacitance is of essential significance for designing high performance electrode materials, which offers exceptional charge storage characteristics. In this study, we elucidate the pseudocapacitive behavior of Al3+ ions intercalation within the distinctive tunnels of monoclinic W18O49 nanostructure. 3D sea urchin-like W18O49 is synthesized through one-step solvothermal approach. Its physicochemical properties are investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analysis. Cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques are used to investigate the electrochemical characteristics of W18O49 electrode in different electrolyte systems. It shows high specific capacitance of 350 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, superior electrochemical long-term stability in the Al3+ electrolyte with 92% capacitance retention at 8000 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance is predominantly due to the Al3+ ions intercalation/de-intercalation with W18O49 nanostructure that is proven by ex situ X-ray diffraction analysis. The work marks a notable achievement in the effort of substituting commonly acidic proton electrolyte for W18O49 supercapacitor

Solvothermal Synthesis of Reduced Graphene Oxide as Electrode Material for Supercapacitor Application

This work manifests the synthesis of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets through in situ solvothermal reduction of graphene oxide. The as-synthesized reduced graphene oxide nanosheets are utilized as a supercapacitor electrode. A series of structural and morphological investigations evince that graphene oxide can be successfully reduced through solvothermal strategy in absolute ethanol as solvent. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results showed that reduced graphene oxide displayed very low-intensity bands related to oxygenated functional groups, implying a high reduction degree. Besides that, it shows good electrochemical characteristics such as high specific capacitance of 183 F g-1 is obtained in 5 M KOH at 0.25 A g-1 and low internal and charges transfer resistances which are 430 and 64 mΩ, respectively. The findings confirm that graphene oxide can be reduced through solvothermal reduction strategy. Further, the as-prepared reduced graphene oxide nanosheets is a good candidate for supercapacitors application

W18O49 nanowires-graphene nanocomposite for asymmetric supercapacitors employing AlCl3 aqueous electrolyte

W18O49 nanowires (NWs)-reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite is examined as a new active material for supercapacitors electrode, which reveals its high specific capacitance and excellent rate performance in AlCl3 aqueous electrolyte. Electrochemical studies show that the presence of rGO enhances Al3+ ions diffusion in the nanocomposite, thus provides more ions for intercalation pseudocapacitance. The fabrication of asymmetric supercapacitor W18O49 NWs-rGO//rGO demonstrates high specific capacitance of 365.5 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and excellent cycling stability with 96.7% capacitance retention at 12,000 cycles. Interestingly, it delivers high energy density of 28.5 Wh kg−1 and power density of 751 W kg−1, which is the highest energy density value for all reported W18O49-based supercapacitor device. The work explores W18O49 NWs-rGO nanocomposite as a new electrode material for supercapacitors application with superior electrochemical performance, which may open up a new direction for high-performance energy storage in Al3+ electrolyte