Natural and Eco-Friendly Materials for Triboelectric Energy Harvesting

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are promising electric energy harvesting devices as they can produce renewable clean energy using mechanical excitations from the environment. Several designs of triboelectric energy harvesters relying on biocompatible and eco-friendly natural materials have been introduced in recent years. Their ability to provide customizable self-powering for a wide range of applications, including biomedical devices, pressure and chemical sensors, and battery charging appliances, has been demonstrated. This review summarizes major advances already achieved in the field of triboelectric energy harvesting using biocompatible and eco-friendly natural materials. A rigorous, comparative, and critical analysis of preparation and testing methods is also presented. Electric power up to 14 mW was already achieved for the dry leaf/polyvinylidene fluoride-based TENG devices. These findings highlight the potential of eco-friendly self-powering systems and demonstrate the unique properties of the plants to generate electric energy for multiple applications.[Figure not available: see fulltext.]. © 2020, © 2020, The Author(s).Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Excitotoxicidade e Neuroproteção, INCT-ENMinistry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, MinobrnaukaFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, FCT: SFRH/BPD/117475/2016, CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-031679, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031132This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, refs. UIDB/50011/2020 & UIDP/50011/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC. S.K. and A.K. were partly supported by FCT (Portugal) through the project “BioPiezo”- PTDC/CTM–CTM/31679/2017 (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-031679). M. Soares dos Santos was also supported by FCT, through the grant reference SFRH/BPD/117475/2016. All authors were partly supported by FCT through the project “SelfMED” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031132). Part of this work was funded by national funds (OE), through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5, and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19. The research was also supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in the framework of the Increase Competitiveness Program of NUST « MISiS » (No. K2-2019-015)

Chiral peculiar properties of self-organization of diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes: Modeling of structure and properties

The structure and properties of diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes based on phenylalanine were investigated by various molecular modeling methods. The main approaches were semi-empirical quantum-chemical methods (PM3 and AM1), and molecular mechanical ones. Both the model structures and the structures extracted from their experimental crystallographic databases obtained by X-ray methods were examined. A comparison of optimized model structures and structures obtained by naturally-occurring self-assembly showed their important differences depending on D- and L-chirality. In both the cases, the effect of chirality on the results of self-assembly of diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes was established: peptide nanotubes based on the D-diphenylalanine (D-FF) has high condensation energy E 0 in transverse direction and forms thicker and shorter peptide nanotubes bundles, than that based on L-diphenylalanine (L-FF). A topological difference was established: model peptide nanotubes were optimized into structures consisting of rings, while naturally self-assembled peptide nanotubes consisted of helical coils. The latter were different for the original L-FF and D-FF. They formed helix structures in which the chirality sign changes as the level of the macromolecule hierarchy raises. Total energy of the optimal distances between two units are deeper for L-FF (-1.014 eV) then for D-FF (-0.607 eV) for ring models, while for helix coil are approximately the same and have for L-FF (-6.18 eV) and for D-FF (-6.22 eV) by PM3 method; for molecular mechanical methods energy changes are of the order of 2-3 eV for both the cases. A topological transition between a ring and a helix coil of peptide nanotube structures is discussed: self-assembled natural helix structures are more stable and favourable, they have lower energy in optimal configuration as compared with ring models by a value of the order of 1 eV for molecular mechanical methods and 5 eV for PM3 method. © 2019 Mathematical Biology and Bioinformatics.Part of this work was developed as part of the CICECO-Aveiro Materials Institute project, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679 funded from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) Ref. UID/CTM/50011/2013, and funded from national funds through FCT/MEC, and co-funded by FEDER in accordance with the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. P.Z. thanks the project FCT PTDC/QEQ-QAN/6373/2014. S.K. thanks the project FCT PTDC/CTM-CTM/31679/2017

Magnetoelectric Effect: Principles and Applications in Biology and Medicine– a Review

Magnetoelectric (ME) effect experimentally discovered about 60 years ago remains one of the promising research fields with the main applications in microelectronics and sensors. However, its applications to biology and medicine are still in their infancy. For the diagnosis and treatment of diseases at the intracellular level, it is necessary to develop a maximally non-invasive way of local stimulation of individual neurons, navigation, and distribution of biomolecules in damaged cells with relatively high efficiency and adequate spatial and temporal resolution. Recently developed ME materials (composites), which combine elastically coupled piezoelectric (PE) and magnetostrictive (MS) phases, have been shown to yield very strong ME effects even at room temperature. This makes them a promising toolbox for solving many problems of modern medicine. The main ME materials, processing technologies, as well as most prospective biomedical applications will be overviewed, and modern trends in using ME materials for future therapies, wireless power transfer, and optogenetics will be considered. © 2021 The Author(s).This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, refs. UIDB/50011/2020 and UIDP/50011/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MCTES. Part of this work was funded by national funds (OE), through FCT – Fundaç~ao para a Ci^encia e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5, and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19. The financial support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation is acknowledged (grant agreements №075-15-2021-588 from 1.06.2021)

The role of Drosophila Merlin in spermatogenesis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Drosophila </it>Merlin, the homolog of the human <it>Neurofibromatosis 2 </it>(<it>NF2</it>) gene, is important for the regulation of cell proliferation and receptor endocytosis. Male flies carrying a <it>Mer</it>³allele, a missense mutation (Met¹⁷⁷→Ile) in the <it>Merlin </it>gene, are viable but sterile; however, the cause of sterility is unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Testis examination reveals that hemizygous <it>Mer</it>³mutant males have small seminal vesicles that contain only a few immotile sperm. By cytological and electron microscopy analyses of the <it>Mer</it>³, <it>Mer</it>⁴(Gln¹⁷⁰→stop), and control testes at various stages of spermatogenesis, we show that <it>Merlin </it>mutations affect meiotic cytokinesis of spermatocytes, cyst polarization and nuclear shaping during spermatid elongation, and spermatid individualization. We also demonstrate that the lethality and sterility phenotype of the <it>Mer</it>⁴mutant is rescued by the introduction of a wild-type <it>Merlin </it>gene. Immunostaining demonstrates that the Merlin protein is redistributed to the area associated with the microtubules of the central spindle in telophase and its staining is less in the region of the contractile ring during meiotic cytokinesis. At the onion stage, Merlin is concentrated in the Nebenkern of spermatids, and this mitochondrial localization is maintained throughout sperm formation. Also, Merlin exhibits punctate staining in the acrosomal region of mature sperm.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>Merlin </it>mutations affect spermatogenesis at multiple stages. The Merlin protein is dynamically redistributed during meiosis of spermatocytes and is concentrated in the Nebenkern of spermatids. Our results demonstrated for the first time the mitochondrial localization of Merlin and suggest that Merlin may play a role in mitochondria formation and function during spermatogenesis.</p

Structures and properties of the self-assembling diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes containing water molecules: Modeling and data analysis

The structures and properties of the diphenylalanine (FF) peptide nanotubes (PNTs), both L-chiral and D-chiral (L-FF and D-FF) and empty and filled with water/ice clusters, are presented and analyzed. DFT (VASP) and semi-empirical calculations (HyperChem) to study these structural and physical properties of PNTs (including ferroelectric) were used. The results obtained show that after optimization the dipole moment and polarization of both chiral type L-FF and D-FF PNT and embedded water/ice cluster are enhanced; the water/ice cluster acquire the helix-like structure similar as L-FF and D-FF PNT. Ferroelectric properties of tubular water/ice helix-like cluster, obtained after optimization inside L-FF and D-FF PNT, as well of the total L-FF and D-FF PNT with embedded water/ice cluster, are discussed. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This work was partially supported by the Fundacão para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) through project UID/CTM/50025/2013 and UIDB/50011/2020 & UIDP/50011/2020. P.Z. and S.K. are grateful to the FCT (Portugal) through the project “BioPiezo,” PTDC/CTM–CTM/31679/2017 (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-031679). The theoretical and computational parts of the study was completed within the framework of the non-commercial Agreement on scientific and technical cooperation between Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology (IMPB) of KIAM RAS and Department of Physics and I3N institution of the University of Aveiro, Portugal. Part of this work was funded by national funds (OE), through FCT (Portugal), in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5, and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19

Piezoelectric properties of diphenylalanine microtubes: comparison of cyclo- and linear structural forms

Piezoelectric coefficients of cyclo-diphenylalanine microtubes have been evaluated by piezoresponse force microscopy on non-polar and polar sides and were compared to those of linear-diphenylalanine microtubes. It has been shown that cyclo-diphenylalanine microtubes at larger size possess 10 times smaller piezoelectric coefficients.The equipment of Ural Center for Shared Use "Modern Nanotechnology" UrFU has been used. The work was financially supported by the President of the Russian Federation grant for young scientists (Contract 14.Y30.17.2294-MK) and by the Government of the RF (Act 211, Agreement 02.A03.21.0006)

Investigation of physical properties of diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes having different chirality

The primary structure of all amino acids exists in 2 different chiralities: L (left) and D (right) [1]. However, in biological nature almost all amino acids are L. This choice is due to evolution process, but its reasons are not enough clear yet. To find some physical sources of such difference the investigation of 2 type of diphenylalanine (FF) peptide nanotubes (PNT), based on L-FF and D-FF, was performed. Both types of PNT were fabricated by standard method and their physical properties (X-ray structural data, optical dichroism, polarization, and piezoelectric response, etc.) were studied.Work was supported by RFBR grant # 15-01-04924 and by joint project Portugal-Turkey TUBITAK/0006/2014

Molecular modeling and computational study of the chiral-dependent structures and properties of the self-assembling diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes, containing water molecules

DFT (VASP) and semi-empirical (HyperChem) calculations for the l- and d-chiral diphenylalanine (l-FF and d-FF) nanotube (PNT) structures, empty and filled with water/ice clusters, are presented and analyzed. The results obtained show that after optimization, the dipole moment and polarization of both chiral type l-FF and d-FF PNT and embedded water/ice cluster are enhanced; the water/ice cluster acquire the helix-like structure similar as l-FF and d-FF PNT. Ferroelectric properties of tubular water/ice helix-like-cluster obtained after optimization inside l-FF and d-FF PNT and total l-FF and d-FF PNT with embedded water/ice cluster are discussed. © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.This work was partially supported by the Fundacão para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(FCT, Portugal) through project UID/CTM/50025/2013 and UIDB/50011/2020 & UIDP/50011/2020. P.Z. and S.K. are grateful to the FCT (Portugal) through the project “BioPiezo,” PTDC/CTM–CTM/31679/2017 (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-031679). The computational parts of the study was completed within the framework of the non-commercial Agreement on scientific-technical cooperation between Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology (IMPB) of the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics RAS (KIAM RAS) and Department of Physics and I3N Institution of the University of Aveiro, Portugal

Chemically stable diphenylalanine peptide microtubes: structure, properties, application.

The diphenylalanine (FF) is one of the self-assembling peptides which have recently become a focus of intensive research in the field of nanomaterials due to its promising applications in various technological fields [1]. FF structures possess unique physical and chemical properties such as high rigidity [2], unique optical properties related to quantum confinement of electrons and holes [3], appreciable thermal stability as well as exceptional piezoelectric effect [4] and ferroelectricity [5]. FF structures have shown great potential to be employed in nano and micro devices [1,5,6]. The chemical stability of these structures is a necessary prerequisite for their successful application. However, in solution, the peptide nanotubes can easily be dissolved in several solvents including water. The instability of FF tubes in solution is a major limitation to realizing FF structuresThe equipment of Ural Center for Shared Use "Modern Nanotechnology" UrFU has been used. The work was financially supported by the Government of the RF (Act 211, Agreement 02.A03.21.0006) and by the joint project Portugal-Turkey (TUBITAK/0006/2014)