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Pira A, Amatucci A, Melis C, Pezzella A, Manini P, d'Ischia M, Mula G. The interplay of chemical structure, physical properties, and structural design as a tool to modulate the properties of melanins within mesopores. Sci Rep 2022; 12:11436. [PMID: 35794122 PMCID: PMC9258763 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14347-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The design of modern devices that can fulfil the requirements for sustainability and renewable energy applications calls for both new materials and a better understanding of the mixing of existing materials. Among those, surely organic–inorganic hybrids are gaining increasing attention due to the wide possibility to tailor their properties by accurate structural design and materials choice. In this work, we’ll describe the tight interplay between porous Si and two melanic polymers permeating the pores. Melanins are a class of biopolymers, known to cause pigmentation in many living species, that shows very interesting potential applications in a wide variety of fields. Given the complexity of the polymerization process beyond the formation and structure, the full understanding of the melanins' properties remains a challenging task. In this study, the use of a melanin/porous Si hybrid as a tool to characterize the polymer’s properties within mesopores gives new insights into the conduction mechanisms of melanins. We demonstrate the dramatic effect induced on these mechanisms in a confined environment by the presence of a thick interface. In previous studies, we already showed that the interactions at the interface between porous Si and eumelanin play a key role in determining the final properties of composite materials. Here, thanks to a careful monitoring of the photoconductivity properties of porous Si filled with melanins obtained by ammonia-induced solid-state polymerization (AISSP) of 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) or 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN), we investigate the effect of wet, dry, and vacuum cycles of storage from the freshly prepared samples to months-old samples. A computational study on the mobility of water molecules within a melanin polymer is also presented to complete the understanding of the experimental data. Our results demonstrate that: (a) the hydration-dependent behavior of melanins is recovered in large pores (≈ 60 nm diameter) while is almost absent in thinner pores (≈ 20 nm diameter); (b) DHN-melanin materials can generate higher photocurrents and proved to be stable for several weeks and more sensitive to the wet/dry variations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Pira
- PoroSiLab, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, S.P. 8 km 0.700, 09042, Monserrato (Ca), Italy
| | - Alberto Amatucci
- PoroSiLab, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, S.P. 8 km 0.700, 09042, Monserrato (Ca), Italy
| | - Claudio Melis
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, S.P. 8 km 0.700, 09042, Monserrato (Ca), Italy
| | - Alessandro Pezzella
- Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini", Università di Napoli "Federico II", Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia 21, 80126, Napoli (Na), Italy
| | - Paola Manini
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Napoli "Federico II", Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia 21, 80126, Napoli (Na), Italy
| | - Marco d'Ischia
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Napoli "Federico II", Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia 21, 80126, Napoli (Na), Italy
| | - Guido Mula
- PoroSiLab, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, S.P. 8 km 0.700, 09042, Monserrato (Ca), Italy.
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Xue Y, Bai H, Peng B, Fang B, Baell J, Li L, Huang W, Voelcker NH. Stimulus-cleavable chemistry in the field of controlled drug delivery. Chem Soc Rev 2021; 50:4872-4931. [DOI: 10.1039/d0cs01061h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
This review comprehensively summarises stimulus-cleavable linkers from various research areas and their cleavage mechanisms, thus provides an insightful guideline to extend their potential applications to controlled drug release from nanomaterials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yufei Xue
- Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics
- Xi’an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE) and Xi’an Institute of Biomedical Materials & Engineering
- Northwestern Polytechnical University
- 127 West Youyi Road
- Xi'an 710072
| | - Hua Bai
- Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics
- Xi’an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE) and Xi’an Institute of Biomedical Materials & Engineering
- Northwestern Polytechnical University
- 127 West Youyi Road
- Xi'an 710072
| | - Bo Peng
- Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics
- Xi’an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE) and Xi’an Institute of Biomedical Materials & Engineering
- Northwestern Polytechnical University
- 127 West Youyi Road
- Xi'an 710072
| | - Bin Fang
- Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics
- Xi’an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE) and Xi’an Institute of Biomedical Materials & Engineering
- Northwestern Polytechnical University
- 127 West Youyi Road
- Xi'an 710072
| | - Jonathan Baell
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Clayton
- Victoria 3168
- Australia
| | - Lin Li
- Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics
- Xi’an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE) and Xi’an Institute of Biomedical Materials & Engineering
- Northwestern Polytechnical University
- 127 West Youyi Road
- Xi'an 710072
| | - Wei Huang
- Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics
- Xi’an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE) and Xi’an Institute of Biomedical Materials & Engineering
- Northwestern Polytechnical University
- 127 West Youyi Road
- Xi'an 710072
| | - Nicolas Hans Voelcker
- Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics
- Xi’an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE) and Xi’an Institute of Biomedical Materials & Engineering
- Northwestern Polytechnical University
- 127 West Youyi Road
- Xi'an 710072
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