materials-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Functional Materials for Therapeutic and Industrial Applications

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomaterials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 June 2023) | Viewed by 11619

Special Issue Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea
Interests: protein engineering; nanobiocatalyst; quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue “Functional Materials for Therapeutic and Industrial Applications” mainly addresses the various therapeutic and industrial applications of functional materials, including drug delivery, biosensors, battery, photocatalyst, biocatalysis, and biomaterials.  Organic and inorganic functional materials are widely used in many applications because of their unique properties and potential. They can be obtained from residues or advanced synthesis technologies like spray drying, spray pyrolysis, and chemical vapor deposition. These materials possess an easily tuneable porosity, particle size, electronic potential, or conductivity, which determine their final application. Computational calculation methods such as molecular dynamics (MD) and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) simulations are also used to develop functional materials and analyze their functionality.

The up-to-date findings of functional materials in therapeutic and industrial applications are discussed in detail in this Special Issue.

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, short communications, and reviews are welcome.

Dr. Jung-Kul Lee
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • battery
  • biocatalysis
  • biomaterials
  • biosensors
  • computational calculation
  • drug delivery
  • photocatalyst

Published Papers (6 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

10 pages, 1686 KiB  
Article
Tuning the Electronic and Charge Transport Properties of Schiff Base Compounds by Electron Donor and/or Acceptor Groups
by Ahmad Irfan, Abdullah G. Al-Sehemi and Abul Kalam
Materials 2022, 15(23), 8590; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15238590 - 02 Dec 2022
Viewed by 1092
Abstract
Organic semiconductors have gained substantial interest as active materials in electronic devices due to their advantages over conventional semiconductors. We first designed four Schiff base compounds, then the effect of electron donor/acceptor groups (methyl/nitro) was studied on the compounds’ electronic and transport nature. [...] Read more.
Organic semiconductors have gained substantial interest as active materials in electronic devices due to their advantages over conventional semiconductors. We first designed four Schiff base compounds, then the effect of electron donor/acceptor groups (methyl/nitro) was studied on the compounds’ electronic and transport nature. The absorption spectra (λabs) were computed by time-dependent DFT at TD-B3LYP/6-31+G** level. The effect of different solvents (ethanol, DMF, DMSO, and acetone) was investigated on the λabs. The substitution of the -NO2 group to the furan moiety at the 5th position in Compound 3 leads to a red-shift in the absorption spectrum. A smaller hole reorganization energy value in Compound 3 would be beneficial to get the hole’s intrinsic mobility. In contrast, a reduced-electron reorganization energy value of Compound 4 than hole may result in enhanced electron charge transfer capabilities. The reorganization energies of compounds 1 and 2 exposed balanced hole/electron transport probability. The optical, electronic, and charge transport properties at the molecular level indicate that Compound 3 is suitable for organic electronic device applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Materials for Therapeutic and Industrial Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 2610 KiB  
Article
Effects of the Crystalline Properties of Hollow Ceria Nanostructures on a CuO-CeO2 Catalyst in CO Oxidation
by Se-Jin Jang, Hyeonkyeong Lee, Jiyull Kim, Na-Yeon Kim, Dong-Seop Choi and Ji Bong Joo
Materials 2022, 15(11), 3859; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15113859 - 28 May 2022
Viewed by 1604
Abstract
The development of an efficient and economic catalyst with high catalytic performance is always challenging. In this study, we report the synthesis of hollow CeO2 nanostructures and the crystallinity control of a CeO2 layer used as a support material for a [...] Read more.
The development of an efficient and economic catalyst with high catalytic performance is always challenging. In this study, we report the synthesis of hollow CeO2 nanostructures and the crystallinity control of a CeO2 layer used as a support material for a CuO-CeO2 catalyst in CO oxidation. The hollow CeO2 nanostructures were synthesized using a simple hydrothermal method. The crystallinity of the hollow CeO2 shell layer was controlled through thermal treatment at various temperatures. The crystallinity of hollow CeO2 was enhanced by increasing the calcination temperature, but both porosity and surface area decreased, showing an opposite trend to that of crystallinity. The crystallinity of hollow CeO2 significantly influenced both the characteristics and the catalytic performance of the corresponding hollow CuO-CeO2 (H-Cu-CeO2) catalysts. The degree of oxygen vacancy significantly decreased with the calcination temperature. H-Cu-CeO2 (HT), which presented the lowest CeO2 crystallinity, not only had a high degree of oxygen vacancy but also showed well-dispersed CuO species, while H-Cu-CeO2 (800), with well-developed crystallinity, showed low CuO dispersion. The H-Cu-CeO2 (HT) catalyst exhibited significantly enhanced catalytic activity and stability. In this study, we systemically analyzed the characteristics and catalyst performance of hollow CeO2 samples and the corresponding hollow CuO-CeO2 catalysts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Materials for Therapeutic and Industrial Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 3775 KiB  
Article
Quasi-Solid-State SiO2 Electrolyte Prepared from Raw Fly Ash for Enhanced Solar Energy Conversion
by Gyo Hun Choi, Jaehyeong Park, Sungjun Bae and Jung Tae Park
Materials 2022, 15(10), 3576; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15103576 - 17 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1294
Abstract
Quasi-solid-state electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) prevent solvent leakage or evaporation and stability issues that conventional electrolytes cannot; however, there are no known reports that use such an electrolyte based on fly ash SiO2 (FA_SiO2) from raw fly ash [...] Read more.
Quasi-solid-state electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) prevent solvent leakage or evaporation and stability issues that conventional electrolytes cannot; however, there are no known reports that use such an electrolyte based on fly ash SiO2 (FA_SiO2) from raw fly ash (RFA) for solar energy conversion applications. Hence, in this study, quasi-solid-state electrolytes based on FA_SiO2 are prepared from RFA and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) for solar energy conversion. The structural, morphological, chemical, and electrochemical properties of the DSSCs using this electrolyte are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution field-emission scanning electron microscopy (HR-FESEM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) measurements. The DSSCs based on the quasi-solid-state electrolyte (SiO2) show a cell efficiency of 5.5%, which is higher than those of nanogel electrolytes (5.0%). The enhancement of the cell efficiency is primarily due to the increase in the open circuit voltage and fill factor caused by the reduced electron recombination and improved electron transfer properties. The findings confirm that the RFA-based quasi-solid-state (SiO2) electrolyte is an alternative to conventional liquid-state electrolytes, making this approach among the most promising strategies for use in low-cost solar energy conversion devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Materials for Therapeutic and Industrial Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 3098 KiB  
Article
Antibacterial Properties of Biodegradable Silver Nanoparticle Foils Based on Various Strains of Pathogenic Bacteria Isolated from the Oral Cavity of Cats, Dogs and Horses
by Miłosz Rutkowski, Lidia Krzemińska-Fiedorowicz, Gohar Khachatryan, Julia Kabacińska, Marek Tischner, Aleksandra Suder, Klaudia Kulik and Anna Lenart-Boroń
Materials 2022, 15(3), 1269; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15031269 - 08 Feb 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1995
Abstract
Frequent occurrence of microbial resistance to biocides makes it necessary to find alternative antimicrobial substances for modern veterinary medicine. The aim of this study was to obtain biodegradable silver nanoparticle-containing (AgNPs) foils synthesized using non-toxic chemicals and evaluation of their activity against bacterial [...] Read more.
Frequent occurrence of microbial resistance to biocides makes it necessary to find alternative antimicrobial substances for modern veterinary medicine. The aim of this study was to obtain biodegradable silver nanoparticle-containing (AgNPs) foils synthesized using non-toxic chemicals and evaluation of their activity against bacterial pathogens isolated from oral cavities of cats, dogs and horses. Silver nanoparticle foils were synthesized using sodium alginate, and glucose, maltose and xylose were used as reducing agents. The sizes of AgNPs differed depending on the reducing agent used (xylose < maltose < glucose). Foil without silver nanoparticles was used as control. Bacterial strains were isolated from cats, dogs and horses by swabbing their oral cavities. Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Escherichia coli and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli were isolated on selective chromogenic microbiological media. The bactericidal effect of AgNPs foils obtained using non-toxic chemical compounds against E. coli, ESBL, S. aureus and MRSA isolated from oral cavities of selected animals was confirmed in this study. No statistically significant differences were observed between the foils obtained with different reducing agents. Therefore, all types of examined foils proved to be effective against the isolated bacteria. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Materials for Therapeutic and Industrial Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 5373 KiB  
Article
Green Synthesis of Silver-Decorated Magnetic Particles for Efficient and Reusable Antimicrobial Activity
by Sachin V. Otari, Vipin Chandra Kalia, Aarti Bisht, In-Won Kim and Jung-Kul Lee
Materials 2021, 14(24), 7893; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14247893 - 20 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1524
Abstract
Metal and metal hybrid nanostructures have shown tremendous application in the biomedical and catalytic fields because of their plasmonic and catalytic properties. Here, a green and clean method was employed for the synthesis of silver nanoparticle (Ag NP)-SiO2-Fe2O3 [...] Read more.
Metal and metal hybrid nanostructures have shown tremendous application in the biomedical and catalytic fields because of their plasmonic and catalytic properties. Here, a green and clean method was employed for the synthesis of silver nanoparticle (Ag NP)-SiO2-Fe2O3 hybrid microstructures, and biomolecules from green tea extracts were used for constructing the hybrid structures. The SiO2-Fe2O3 structures were synthesized using an ethanolic green tea leaf extract to form Bio-SiO2-Fe2O3 (BSiO2-Fe2O3) structures. Biochemical studies demonstrated the presence of green tea biomolecules in the BSiO2 layer. Reduction of the silver ions was performed by a BSiO2 layer to form Ag NPs of 5–10 nm in diameter in and on the BSiO2-Fe2O3 microstructure. The reduction process was observed within 600 s, which is faster than that reported elsewhere. The antimicrobial activity of the Ag-BSiO2-Fe2O3 hybrid structure was demonstrated against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, and the nanostructures were further visualized using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The magnetic properties of the Ag-BSiO2-Fe2O3 hybrid structure were used for studying reusable antimicrobial activity. Thus, in this study, we provide a novel green route for the construction of a biomolecule-entrapped SiO2-Fe2O3 structure and their use for the ultra-fast formation of Ag NPs to form antimicrobial active multifunctional hybrid structures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Materials for Therapeutic and Industrial Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

24 pages, 9420 KiB  
Review
Nano-Structured Carbon: Its Synthesis from Renewable Agricultural Sources and Important Applications
by Harishchandra Jirimali, Jyoti Singh, Rajamouli Boddula, Jung-Kul Lee and Vijay Singh
Materials 2022, 15(11), 3969; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15113969 - 02 Jun 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3402
Abstract
Carbon materials are versatile in nature due to their unique and modifiable surface and ease of production. Nanostructured carbon materials are gaining importance due to their high surface area for application in the energy, biotechnology, biomedical, and environmental fields. According to their structures, [...] Read more.
Carbon materials are versatile in nature due to their unique and modifiable surface and ease of production. Nanostructured carbon materials are gaining importance due to their high surface area for application in the energy, biotechnology, biomedical, and environmental fields. According to their structures, carbon allotropes are classified as carbon nanodots, carbon nanoparticles, graphene, oxide, carbon nanotubes, and fullerenes. They are synthesized via several methods, including pyrolysis, microwave method, hydrothermal synthesis, and chemical vapor deposition, and the use of renewable and cheaper agricultural feedstocks and reactants is increasing for reducing cost and simplifying production. This review explores the nanostructured carbon detailed investigation of sources and their relevant reports. Many of the renewable sources are covered as focused here, such as sugar cane waste, pineapple, its solid biomass, rise husk, date palm, nicotine tabacum stems, lapsi seed stone, rubber-seed shell, coconut shell, and orange peels. The main focus of this work is on the various methods used to synthesize these carbon materials from agricultural waste materials, and their important applications for energy storage devices, optoelectronics, biosensors, and polymer coatings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Materials for Therapeutic and Industrial Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop