Wearable sensors are gradually enabling decentralized healthcare systems. However, these sensors need to be closely attached to skin, which is unsuitable for long-term dynamic health monitoring of the patients, such as infants or persons with burn injuries. Here, a wearable capacitive sensor based on the capacitively coupled effect for healthcare monitoring in noncontact mode is reported. It consists

Nanoparticles are valuable materials with widespread use. The fact that these materials are obtained by biological resources with an environmentally friendly method contributes to the development of studies in this field. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) from waste vegetable sources (green leaves of Capsicum annum L.) are economically and easily synthesized. The obtained particles are characterized by UV-vis

Photothermal-material-assisted solar-steam generation has recently attracted intensive attention due to its superior evaporation rate with high energy conversion efficiency for desalination. In this work, a simple approach for fabrication of porous carbon nanofoam (PCN) is reported, which is prepared by the carbonization of pitch using a combination of CaCO3 and NaCl templates, Meanwhile, NaCl saturated

Water collection from fog has received much attention to meet the challenges of scarcity of clean drinking water in desert and arid regions. Currently, solar-thermal technology is being used as an efficient, sustainable, and low-cost method for water desalination to produce clean water. To collect the clean water, in recent years, most researchers have designed the structure of water collection surfaces

Cupric oxide (CuO) is a promising candidate as a photocathode for visible-light-driven photo-electrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, the stability of the CuO photocathode against photo-corrosion is crucial for developing CuO-based PEC cells. This study demonstrates a stable and efficient photocathode through the introduction of graphene into CuO film (CuO:G). The CuO:G composite electrodes

The low specific capacitance and energy density of carbon electrode has extremely limited the wide application of supercapacitors. For developing a high-performance carbon electrode using a simple and effective method, a fishnet-like, N-doped porous carbon (FNPC) film is prepared by calcining the KOH-activated polyindole precoated on carbon cloths. The FNPC film is tightly anchored on carbon cloths

Due to its deleterious effects on health, development of new methods for detection and removal of pesticide residues in primary and derived agricultural products is a research topic of great importance. Among them, imazalil (IMZ) is a widely used post-harvest fungicide with good performances in general, and is particularly applied to prevent green mold in citrus fruits. In this work, a composite film

Hydrogen energy is considered to be a critical environmentally friendly and widely sourced renewable energy source that can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels. At present, the preparation of hydrogen (H2) mainly depends on traditional fossil fuels. In order to achieve sustainable development of environmental protection, great attention has been paid to the preparation of H2 by electrocatalysis

Malaysia targets to become the second-largest producer of solar photovoltaic (PV) in the world by increasing the current output from 12% to 20% in 2020. The government also expects to achieve 45% reduction of greenhouse gas emission by 2030 through renewable energy mainly by solar PV. Large-scale solar (LSS) aims to produce 2.5 GW, which contributes to 10% of the nation's electricity demands. The LSS

To solve the problems of fast-charging of lithium-ion batteries in essence, development of new electrode materials with higher lithium-ion diffusion coefficients is the key. In this work, a novel flower-like Ni@SnNi structure is synthesized via a two-step process design, which consists of the fabrication of Ni cores by spray pyrolysis followed by the formation of SnNi shells via a simple oxidation-reduction

DNA nanostructures have attracted considerable attention as drug delivery carriers. However, the transmembrane kinetics of DNA nanostructures remains less explored. Herein, the dynamic process of transporting single tetrahedral DNA nanostructures (TDNs) is monitored in real time using a force-tracing technique based on atomic force microscopy. The results show that transporting single TDNs into living

Hyaluronic acid (HA)-based hydrogels have been receiving increasing attention for wound management. However, pure HA hydrogels usually exhibit weak mechanical strength and poor anti-infection. Herein, a hybrid HA-based hydrogel (PDA-HA) comprised of polydopamine (PDA) and thiolated hyaluronic acid (HA-SH) is developed based on the Michael addition reaction. The introduction of PDA into HA hydrogel

Wearable and shape-adaptive electronic textiles (E-textiles) for human activities detection such as diversity joints motion are highly desired. However, conventional E-textiles still remain great challenges, such as flexibility, air permeability, and large-area fabrication. Here, a fabric E-textile is developed as a self-powered textile for tracking active motion signals. The fiber-shaped coaxial tribo-sensor

A bioprinting technique for large-scale, custom-printed immobilization of microalgae is developed for potential applications within architecture and the built environment. Alginate-based hydrogels with various rheology modifying polymers and varying water percentages are characterized to establish a window of operation suitable for layer-by-layer deposition on a large scale. Hydrogels formulated with

Adsorption, sample preservation, and cross-contamination are the major impediments to the accurate and sensitive analysis of low-level mercury samples. Common measures to deal with this issue are to use Teflon, quartz, or borosilicate glass bottles for sampling, standard solution and sample preservation with oxidative chemicals, to prepare standard solutions daily and to use dedicated glassware. This

Carbon-SnO x composites are obtained by impregnating acetylacetone-treated, delignified wood fibers with tin precursor and successively carbonizing at 1000 °C in 95% argon and 5% oxygen. Scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen sorption studies (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) show that acetylacetone treatment stabilizes the wood fiber structure during carbonization at 1000 °C and preserves the porous structural

Energy use is on the rise due to an increase in the number of households and general consumptions. It is important to estimate and forecast the number of houses and the resultant energy consumptions to address the effective and efficient use of energy in future planning. In this paper, the number of houses in Brunei Darussalam is estimated by using Spline interpolation and forecasted by using two methods

Agricultural wastes such as rice husks (RHs) are valuable due to their feasibility to be converted into carbon materials, low cost, and abundancy in contrast to the conventional carbon material sources. In this study, RHs are carbonized at various temperatures from low to high temperatures, and their electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption properties are evaluated. Carbon materials, silicon carbide (SiC)

Neuromorphic systems consisting of artificial neurons and synapses can process complex information with high efficiency to overcome the bottleneck of von Neumann architecture. Artificial neurons are essentially required to possess functions such as leaky integrate-and-fire and output spike. However, previous reported artificial neurons typically have high operation voltage and large leakage current

The antibacterial efficacy of a copper-silver alloy coating under conditions resembling build up of dry surface bacterial biofilms is successfully demonstrated according to US EPA test methods with a ≥99.9% reduction of test organisms over a 24 h period. A tailor-made confocal imaging protocol is designed to visualize in situ the killing of bacterial biofilms at the copper-silver alloy surface and

Lead halide perovskites have displayed the highest solar power conversion efficiencies of 23% but the toxicity issues of these materials need to be addressed. Lead-free perovskites have emerged as viable candidates for potential use as light harvesters to ensure clean and green photovoltaic technology. The substitution of lead by Sn, Ge, Bi, Sb, Cu and other potential candidates have reported efficiencies

Biodiesel is subject to radical reactions that promote degradation. To decrease the speed of these degradation reactions and increase oxidative stability, either natural or synthetic antioxidants are added to biodiesel. Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of extracts of pecan nutshell (Carya illinoensis) as natural antioxidants derived from biomass using water, ethanol, and

Carbon nanodots (C-dots) are emerging as a new type of promising agent in anticancer, imaging, and new energy. Reports as well as the previous research indicate that certain C-dots can enhance targeted cancer therapy. However, in-depth mechanisms for such anticancer effect remain unclear. In this work, treatment provided by the date pit-derived C-dots, exhibits significant DNA damage; Annexin V/7-AAD-mediated

Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene-like carbon (N,S-GLC) is successfully prepared in a one-step hydrothermal reaction of glucose with industrial dye wastewater followed by chemical activation. The nitrogen and sulfur are sourced entirely from the industrial wastewater. The process not only provides an alternative way of treating industry wastewater, but also offers a green route for recovering energy

A new, natural, hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent (NADES) based on DL-menthol and palmitic acid is adopted for the extraction of alcohols from aqueous phase. DL-menthol is used as a hydrogen bond acceptor and palmitic acid, being a natural organic acid, as a hydrogen bond donor. The synthesis is carried out by the addition of DL-menthol and palmitic acid in a defined molar ratio. Physical properties

It has long been an aspirational goal to create artificial evaporators that allow omnidirectional energy absorptance, adequate water supply, and fast vapor transportation, replicating the feat of plant transpiration, to solve the global water crisis. This work reveals that magnolia fruits, as a kind of tree-like living organism, can be outstanding 3D tree-like evaporators through a simple carbonization

2D transition metal carbides and nitrides called "MXene" are recent exciting additions to the 2D nanomaterials family. The high electrical conductivity, specific capacitance, and hydrophilic nature of MXenes rival many other 2D nanosheets and have made MXenes excellent candidates for diverse applications including energy storage, electromagnetic shielding, water purification, and photocatalysis. However

Three novel organic dyes coded as FHD4-1, FHD4-2, and FHD4-3 featuring spiro[dibenzo[3,4:6,7]cyclohepta[1,2-b]quinoxaline-10,9'-fluorene] (SDBQX) moieties are designed to inhibit dye aggregation to improve the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The consistent absorption onsets of FHD4-1, FHD4-2, and FHD4-3 in solutions and adsorbed on TiO2 films indicate that these dyes are aggregation-free

The replacement of fossil fuels to produce electricity and heat to propel vehicles with solar energy, along with other new energy technologies, will bring significant economic, environmental, and social benefits to all Mediterranean countries. The transition to new energy, however, calls for a proactive and creative role of policy makers.

This work deals with using a novel approach for securing and dating printed documents, which will detect any forging crime present. In this respect, the coded dots matrices (machine identification code (MIC)) for the used printers are extracted via a binary system of base 2 (0, 1). The UV ink used in the printing process is prepared from novel fluorescence compounds together with polyvinyl alcohol

A field experiment was conducted during the wet seasons of 2013 and 2014 to evaluate the effect of three rice establishment methods: viz. puddled transplanted rice (PTR), system of rice intensification (SRI) and aerobic rice system (ARS), two cyanobacteria based inoculants, viz. Anabaena sp (CR1) + Providencia sp (PR3) consortium and Anabaena-Pseudomonas (An-Ps) biofilm formulation, and zinc (Zn) fertilization

Potassium sodium niobate (KNN) has long been considered a viable candidate for replacing lead-based materials in piezo- and ferroelectric devices. The introduction of KNN on an industrial scale is highly awaited; however, processing challenges still remain to be solved. The main obstacle is lack of reproducible growth of uniform boules or thin films at temperatures that facilitate monolithic device

This work mainly focuses on the graphene oxide (GO)-assisted sustainable drug delivery of famotidine (FMT) drug. Famotidine is loaded onto GO and encapsulated by chitosan (CH). UV-visible spectroscopy, field emission scan electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy confirm the loading of FMT on GO. An interaction of FMT with GO and CH through amine functionalities is confirmed by Fourier-transform

Soy protein isolate (SPI) protein/polymer composite hydrogels (PPCGs) are fabricated in a urea solution of SPI using acrylic acid as monomer, ammonium persulphate (APS) as initiator, and N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS) and glutaraldehyde (GA) as cross-linking agents. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) results show that SPI/polyacrylic (PAA) composite hydrogels formed network structure. In particular

Developing an air electrode with high efficiency and stable performance is essential to improve the energy conversion efficiency and lifetime of zinc-air battery. Herein, Ni3Pt alloy is deposited on 3D nickel foam by a pulsed laser deposition method, working as a stable binder-free air electrode for rechargeable zinc-air batteries. The polycrystalline Ni3Pt alloy possesses high oxygen-conversion catalytic

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are interdependent and integrated. The SDGs aim to impact all levels of society, reach across all sectors, embrace equity, inclusion, and universality, and operate in an ecosystem. SDG 3 strives to improve health outcomes by reducing mortality, ending epidemics, preventing diseases, and implementing universal health coverage (UHC) for accessible, affordable

Solar-driven vapor generation is a promising method to mitigate freshwater shortage and water contamination. However, most of the current highly efficient solar evaporators suffer from low robustness, tedious preparation procedures, and high cost. In this study, an easy-to-manufacture, low-cost, and high-reliability solar-driven evaporator is designed using a black cotton towel with a hollow conical

Climate change and land-use/cover change (LUCC) are two major types of global environmental change. They are increasingly challenging the main objectives of ecosystem management, which are to provide ecosystem services sustainably to society and maintain biodiversity. However, a comprehensive understanding of how climate-land-use change affects these primary goals of ecosystem management is still lacking

The release of nanoparticles and biodegradable chelating agents into the environment may cause toxicological and ecotoxicological effects. The aim of this study is to determine the ecotoxic effects of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and ethylenediamine disuccinic acid (EDDS) on most cultured four plants. The durum wheat, bread wheat, barley, and rye are exposed to 5 mL 10 mg L-1 ZnO nanoparticles and