Stimuli-responsive polymer-based bioinspired soft robots

Soft robotics enables various applications in certain environments where conventional rigid robotics cannot deliver the same performance due to their form factor and stiffness. Animals use their soft external organs to carry out activities in response to challenging natural environments efficiently. The objective of soft robots is to provide biologically inspired abilities and enable adaptable and flexible interactions with complex objects and surroundings. Recent advances in stimuli-responsive soft robot technology have heavily used polymer-based multifunctional materials. Soft robots with incredibly sophisticated multi-mechanical, electrical, or optical capabilities have demonstrated the ability to modify their shape intelligently in response to external stimuli, such as light, electricity, thermal gradient, and magnetic fields. This short review covers recent advances in scientific techniques for incorporating multifunctional polymeric materials into stimuli-responsive bioinspired soft robots and their applications. We also discuss how biological inspiration and environmental effects can provide a viable viewpoint for bioinspired design in the innovative field of soft robotics. Lastly, we highlight the future outlooks and prospects for soft, stimuli-responsive, bio-inspired robots. © 2023, The Author(s).TRU

Advancements in visible-light-driven double perovskite nanoparticles for photodegradation

Perovskites are of significant interest in the field of photocatalysis. To date, many perovskite nanostructures have been developed, and their applications in photocatalysis have been studied. There has been considerable improvement in the research on metal doping in the perovskite structure to improve their optical and structural properties. This mini-review examines the recent progress in the synthesis of lead-free double perovskite nanoparticles and their application in visible-light photocatalysis. Lead-free perovskites are emerging as an eco-friendly solution in energy, electrochemistry, and sensing. Double perovskites are known for their flexible structural, optical, and morphological properties due to their lattice framework having a general form AAʹBBʹO6. They are more useful for hydrogen evolution due to their higher conduction band potential than simple perovskites. Here, we summarize the current progress and provide insights for the future development of double perovskites toward efficient photodegradation. © 2023, The Author(s).TRU

Review on CNT-based Electrode Materials for Electrochemical Sensing of Ascorbic Acid

Ascorbic acid plays a crucial role in the regulation of neurotransmitters and enzymes in the central nervous system. Maintaining an optimal level of ascorbic acid, which is between 0.6–2 mg/dL, is vital for preventing oxidative stress and associated health conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, and liver disease. Therefore, the detection of ascorbic acid is of the utmost importance. Electrochemical sensing has gained significant attention among the various detection methods, owing to its simplicity, speed, affordability, high selectivity, and real-time analysis capabilities. However, conventional electrodes have poor signal response, which has led to the development of modified electrodes with better signal response and selectivity. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their composites have emerged as promising materials for the electrochemical detection of ascorbic acid. CNTs possess unique mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties that depend on their structure, and their large surface area and excellent electron transport properties make them ideal candidates for electrochemical sensing. Recently, various CNT composites with different materials and nanoparticles have been studied to enhance the electrochemical detection of ascorbic acid. Therefore, this review aims to highlight the significance of CNTs and their composites for improving the sensitivity and selectivity of ascorbic acid detection. Specifically, it focuses on the use of CNTs and their composites in electrochemical sensing to revolutionize the detection of ascorbic acid and contribute to the prevention of oxidative stress-related health conditions. The potential benefits of this technology make it a promising area for future research and development.TRU

Waste textiles as the versatile triboelectric energy-harvesting platform for self-powered applications in sports and athletics

The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has emerged as a promising technology for the conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy. There is widespread development in the field of the internet of things and wireless sensor networks to realize future portable and wearable electronic devices. Sports science is a big sector to explore self-powered sensors to reduce the usage of batteries and complicated conventional sensors. The TENG can be one of the best alternatives to realize energy harvesting, impact monitoring, and performance evaluation of athletes in the area of intelligent sports. This work presents a new design for TENG by collecting worn-out textiles from the waste bin to useful self-powered applications in intelligent sports for the first time. The circular economy of the worn-out textile can promote the eco-friendly concept of recycling, reuse, and reducing for various energy devices. The waste materials were evaluated by various techniques such as structural, morphology, and FT-IR. The single electrode mode TENG was fabricated using the various positive triboelectric textile layers and negative triboelectric textile layers. The new device structure of 4 fingers knitted TENG (F-TENG) was able to deliver a peak to peak voltage of 4.2 V and peak-to-peak current output of 2.7 nA by simple stretching and releasing. Further, the energy harvesting from various sports activities was collated such as dribbling the ball, running, and stretching exercises. The digital signal processing techniques such as wavelet transform and wavelet packet transform were introduced to shed light upon the usage of TENG-based sensing units in sports facilities such as self-powered punching power recognition and edge ball judgment system. © 2022 Elsevier LtdFALS

Unraveling highly efficient nanomaterial photocatalyst for pollutant removal: a comprehensive review and future progress

The presence of pollutants in the environment harms the living organism. Photocatalytic technology has been considered as one of the efficient methods for pollutant removal. Photocatalysis is a process that converts abundantly available photonic energy into useful chemical energy. Nanostructured photocatalysts have gained attention in various applications such as removal of organic pollutants, reduction of the level of contaminations arising out of heavy metals, purification of water, and evolution of hydrogen as they possess multiple benefits such as improved light-harvesting efficiency, low charge recombination, and accelerated surface reactions. The foremost goal of such photocatalysis-based technologies is to synthesize an efficient photocatalyst material with high catalytic efficiency and energy harvesting capability in light spectra such as ultra-violet (UV) or visible regions. This article provides an extensive review of different photocatalytic materials that are activated in UV or visible light irradiation for pollutant removal. Special attention is paid to metal oxides, chalcogenides, chalcohalides, perovskites, carbon-based materials, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are considered active photocatalyst materials. This review article summarizes the recent achievements in the photocatalytic removal of harmful contaminants using a wide range of materials from the most explored inorganic compounds to novel heterostructures as well as hybrid inorganic-organic structures. Moreover, the influence of different factors, including material morphology, surface area, optical properties, and material doping on photocatalytic activity is discussed in detail in this article. Finally, the prospects in new catalyst design, preparation, and modification are proposed to overcome the significant problems existing in the field of modern photocatalysis. © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.FALS