Fangyingkai Wang

Preparation of novel magnetic hollow mesoporous silica microspheres and their efficient adsorption

Magnetic hollow mesoporous silica microspheres (MHMSs) were successfully prepared by employing yolk-shell magnetic silica spheres as the template together with the coating of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)/hexadecyl trimethoxysilane (C(16)TMS) hybrid. The microstructure and properties of MHMSs were studied by TEM, SEM, XRD, BET, and VSM characterizations. The average diameter of MHMSs was about 300 nm and the mesoporous shell thickness was totally around 70 nm. The 11 nm magnetite nanoparticles were homogeneously embedded in the mesoporous silica shell. Meanwhile, the adsorption and separation process of Rhodamine B were carried out to demonstrate that the material could be used for the adsorbent.

A multifunctional azobenzene-based polymeric adsorbent for effective water remediation

The efficient removal of trace carcinogenic organic pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and ionic dyes, from water is an important technical challenge. We report a highly effective recyclable multifunctional azobenzene (AZ)-based silica-supported polymeric adsorbent which can simultaneously remove both PAHs and anionic dyes from water to below parts per billion (ppb) level based on multiple interactions such as the hydrophobic effect, π–π stacking and electrostatic interactions, thus providing a new strategy for designer water remediation materials.

Highly Effective Antibacterial Vesicles Based on Peptide-Mimetic Alternating Copolymers for Bone Repair

It is an important challenge for bone repair to effectively deliver growth factors and at the same time to prevent and cure inflammation without obvious pathogen resistance. We designed a kind of antibacterial peptide-mimetic alternating copolymers (PMACs) to effectively inhibit and kill both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The minimum inhibition concentrations (MICs) of the PMACs against E. coli and S. aureus are 8.0 μg/mL, which are much lower than that of antibacterial peptides synthesized by other methods such as widely used ring-opening polymerization of N-carboxyanhydride. Furthermore, the PMACs can self-assemble into polymer vesicles (polymersomes) in pure water with low cytotoxicity (IC50 > 1000 μg/mL), which can encapsulate growth factors in aqueous solution and release them during long-term antibacterial process for facilitating bone repair. We also find that the alternating structure is essential for the excellent antibacterial activity. The in vivo tests in rabbits confirmed that the growth-factor-encapsulated antibacterial vesicles have better bone repair ability compared with control groups without antibacterial vesicles. Overall, we have provided a novel method for designing PMAC-based highly effective intrinsically antibacterial vesicles that may have promising biomedical applications in the future.