Composite Warp-Knitted Textile with Wet–Thermal Comfort, Support, and Antimicrobial Activity for Personal Long-Term Healthcare

Moisture management materials, which can remove liquid unidirectionally, have excellent potential for long-term healthcare of bedridden patients because they can handle large amounts of body fluids caused by incontinence, sweating, etc. However, their lack of support, thermal management, and antibacterial properties limits their clinical application. Here, a three-dimensional thermoplastic polyurethane/warp-knitted spacer fabric/viscose fabric (TWVF) was designed and prepared by coating and needle-punching. TWVF had asymmetrical wettability and interpenetrating fiber pin arrays, which could quickly and unidirectionally drain body fluid away from the skin to keep the skin dry and clean. Meanwhile, the low thermal conductivity of TWVF prevented excessive cooling caused by heat loss of liquid transfer (body temperature was 4.7 °C higher than that with cotton textiles). TWVF exhibited excellent permeability, a low compression modulus (0.03 MPa), and a high compression strength (0.15 MPa), providing sufficient air exchange and suitable support for the body and reducing the risk of pressure injury. Moreover, the incorporated aloin endowed TWVF with excellent antibacterial rates against Staphylococcus aureus (99.61%) and Escherichia coli (98.16%), respectively. This multifunctional textile is simple to prepare and easy to industrialize, providing a reference for the development of functional healthcare materials

Composite Warp-Knitted Textile with Wet–Thermal Comfort, Support, and Antimicrobial Activity for Personal Long-Term Healthcare

Moisture management materials, which can remove liquid unidirectionally, have excellent potential for long-term healthcare of bedridden patients because they can handle large amounts of body fluids caused by incontinence, sweating, etc. However, their lack of support, thermal management, and antibacterial properties limits their clinical application. Here, a three-dimensional thermoplastic polyurethane/warp-knitted spacer fabric/viscose fabric (TWVF) was designed and prepared by coating and needle-punching. TWVF had asymmetrical wettability and interpenetrating fiber pin arrays, which could quickly and unidirectionally drain body fluid away from the skin to keep the skin dry and clean. Meanwhile, the low thermal conductivity of TWVF prevented excessive cooling caused by heat loss of liquid transfer (body temperature was 4.7 °C higher than that with cotton textiles). TWVF exhibited excellent permeability, a low compression modulus (0.03 MPa), and a high compression strength (0.15 MPa), providing sufficient air exchange and suitable support for the body and reducing the risk of pressure injury. Moreover, the incorporated aloin endowed TWVF with excellent antibacterial rates against Staphylococcus aureus (99.61%) and Escherichia coli (98.16%), respectively. This multifunctional textile is simple to prepare and easy to industrialize, providing a reference for the development of functional healthcare materials

Composite Warp-Knitted Textile with Wet–Thermal Comfort, Support, and Antimicrobial Activity for Personal Long-Term Healthcare

Moisture management materials, which can remove liquid unidirectionally, have excellent potential for long-term healthcare of bedridden patients because they can handle large amounts of body fluids caused by incontinence, sweating, etc. However, their lack of support, thermal management, and antibacterial properties limits their clinical application. Here, a three-dimensional thermoplastic polyurethane/warp-knitted spacer fabric/viscose fabric (TWVF) was designed and prepared by coating and needle-punching. TWVF had asymmetrical wettability and interpenetrating fiber pin arrays, which could quickly and unidirectionally drain body fluid away from the skin to keep the skin dry and clean. Meanwhile, the low thermal conductivity of TWVF prevented excessive cooling caused by heat loss of liquid transfer (body temperature was 4.7 °C higher than that with cotton textiles). TWVF exhibited excellent permeability, a low compression modulus (0.03 MPa), and a high compression strength (0.15 MPa), providing sufficient air exchange and suitable support for the body and reducing the risk of pressure injury. Moreover, the incorporated aloin endowed TWVF with excellent antibacterial rates against Staphylococcus aureus (99.61%) and Escherichia coli (98.16%), respectively. This multifunctional textile is simple to prepare and easy to industrialize, providing a reference for the development of functional healthcare materials

Composite Warp-Knitted Textile with Wet–Thermal Comfort, Support, and Antimicrobial Activity for Personal Long-Term Healthcare

Moisture management materials, which can remove liquid unidirectionally, have excellent potential for long-term healthcare of bedridden patients because they can handle large amounts of body fluids caused by incontinence, sweating, etc. However, their lack of support, thermal management, and antibacterial properties limits their clinical application. Here, a three-dimensional thermoplastic polyurethane/warp-knitted spacer fabric/viscose fabric (TWVF) was designed and prepared by coating and needle-punching. TWVF had asymmetrical wettability and interpenetrating fiber pin arrays, which could quickly and unidirectionally drain body fluid away from the skin to keep the skin dry and clean. Meanwhile, the low thermal conductivity of TWVF prevented excessive cooling caused by heat loss of liquid transfer (body temperature was 4.7 °C higher than that with cotton textiles). TWVF exhibited excellent permeability, a low compression modulus (0.03 MPa), and a high compression strength (0.15 MPa), providing sufficient air exchange and suitable support for the body and reducing the risk of pressure injury. Moreover, the incorporated aloin endowed TWVF with excellent antibacterial rates against Staphylococcus aureus (99.61%) and Escherichia coli (98.16%), respectively. This multifunctional textile is simple to prepare and easy to industrialize, providing a reference for the development of functional healthcare materials

High-Performance Small Molecule/Polymer Ternary Organic Solar Cells Based on a Layer-By-Layer Process

The layer-by-layer process method, which had been used to fabricate a bilayer or bulk heterojunction organic solar cell, was developed to fabricate highly efficient ternary blend solar cells in which small molecules and polymers act as two donors. The active layer could be formed by incorporating the small molecules into the polymer based active layer via a layer-by-layer method: the small molecules were first coated on the surface of poly­(3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene):poly­(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), and then the mixed solution of polymer and fullerene derivative was spin-coated on top of a small molecule layer. In this method, the small molecules in crystalline state were effectively mixed in the active layer. Without further optimization of the morphology of the ternary blend, a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.76% was obtained with large short-circuit current density (<i>J</i>_sc) (17.24 mA cm^–2) and fill factor (FF) (0.696). The high PCE resulted from not only enhanced light harvesting but also more balanced charge transport by incorporating small molecules

Intra- and Intermolecular Steric Hindrance Effects Induced Higher Open-Circuit Voltage and Power Conversion Efficiency

A pair of donor–acceptor polymers PBDT<i>h</i>DTBT and PBDT<i>ch</i>DTBT are synthesized, which share the same conjugated backbone, but are designed with hexyl and cyclohexyl side chains, respectively. The stronger steric hindrance of cyclohexyl endows PBDT<i>ch</i>DTBT a deeper lying HOMO energy level of −5.39 eV compared to −5.22 eV for PBDT<i>h</i>DTBT. However, PBDT<i>h</i>DTBT and PBDT<i>ch</i>DTBT exhibit a similar optical bandgap around 1.72 eV and a hole mobility around 10^–5 cm² V^–1 s^–1. Interestingly, the PBDT<i>ch</i>DTBT/PC₇₁BM blends exhibited higher hole mobility than PBDT<i>h</i>DTBT/PC₇₁BM after DIO was added. The higher hole mobility and fibrillar network in the active layer endows PBDT<i>ch</i>DTBT higher power conversion efficiency of 7.9%, together with simultaneously improved open-circuit voltage of 0.80 V, short-circuit current density of 13.50 mA cm^–2, and fill factor of 72.74% after a systemic study of their solar cell devices

Extending π‑Conjugation System with Benzene: An Effective Method To Improve the Properties of Benzodithiophene-Based Polymer for Highly Efficient Organic Solar Cells

To obtain a polymer based on benzodithiophene (BDT) owning both a largely extended π-conjugation system and a low-lying highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), a polymer (PBDTBzT-DTffBT) containing benzothienyl-substituted BDT is designed and synthesized. Compared with the polymer (PBDTT-DTffBT) based on thienyl-substituted BDT, PBDTBzT-DTffBT exhibits better thermal stabilities, red-shifted absorption spectra, and stronger intermolecular interactions. The HOMO and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) in PBDTBzT-DTffBT are decreased by 0.11 and 0.13 eV, respectively, which should be attributed to the contribution of the electron-withdrawing group benzene. Polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on PBDTBzT-DTffBT and [6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM) exhibit a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.30% with a large open-circuit voltage of 0.90 V under AM 1.5G illumination (100 mW/cm²). The PCE is 36% higher than that of the PSCs derived from PBDTT-DTffBT. These findings provide a new approach to design high-performance conjugated polymers for efficient solution-processed PSCs

Two-Dimensional Copolymers Based on an Alkylthionaphthyl-Substituted Benzo[1,2‑<i>b</i>:4,5‑<i>b</i>′]dithiophene for High-Efficiency Polymer Solar Cells

Two new D–A donor polymers of PBDTNS-DTBO and PBDTNS-DTBT are designed and synthesized with a two-dimensional alkylthionaphthyl-substituted benzo­[1,2-<i>b</i>:4,5-<i>b</i>′]­dithiophene (BDTNS) unit. The influence of the BDTNS unit and another modified acceptor unit of benzo-oxadiazole (BO) (or benzo-thiadiazole (BT)) on optical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties is primarily studied. A stronger photoresponse with a higher external quantum efficiency is observed in the PBDTNS-DTBO film. As a result, PBDTNS-DTBO with a dialkoxy-substituted BO unit exhibits better photovoltaic properties than PBDTNS-DTBT with a difluorine-substituted BT unit in their solution-processing bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells (PSCs) using [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) as an acceptor. The maximum power conversion efficiency of 8.02% with a short-circuit current density of 13.05 mA/cm² and a high fill factor of 71.5% is obtained in the PBDTNS-DTBO based devices. Our study indicates that PBDTNS-DTBO is a promising narrow-band photovoltaic polymer for the construction of high-performance PSCs

Functional prediction of seven tagSNPs of the RET gene.

<p>Functional prediction of seven tagSNPs of the RET gene.</p