Ding, Shuangshuang; Fang, Chu; Wang, Xuehui; Wang, Zhigang
Crystallization-driven microstructure changes during microphase separation for environment-friendly thermoplastic triblock copolymer elastomers
A study on the crystallization-driven microstructure changes during microphase separation for a series of high transparent semicrystalline thermoplastic triblock copolymer elastomers (TBCPEs), polylactide-b-polyisoprene-b-polylactide (PLA-b-PI-b-PLA) was conducted in this work. A series of PLA-b-PI-b-PLA TBCPEs with different molecular masses of PI midblock and same molecular mass of PLA end
Disentangling the role of solvent polarity and protein solvation in folding and self-assembly of ?-lactalbumin
Bucciarelli, Saskia; Sayedi, Edres Sayed; Osella, Silvio; Trzaskowski, Bartosz; Vissing, Karina Juul; Vestergaard, Bente; Foderà, Vito
Protein (mis)folding, stability and aggregation are of interest in numerous fields, such as food sciences, biotechnology, and health sciences, and efforts are directed towards the elucidation of the underlying molecular mechanisms. Through an integrative approach, we show that a subtle balance between hydrogen bond formation and hydrophobic interactions defines protein…
Effects of charge contrast and composition on microgel formation and interactions with bacteria-mimicking liposomes
Borro, Bruno C.; Toussaint, Marie S.; Bucciarelli, Saskia; Malmsten, Martin
Microgels offer opportunities for improved delivery of antimicrobial peptides (AMP). To contribute to a foundation for rational design of such systems, we here study the effects of electrostatics on the generation of peptide-carrying microgels. For this, alginate microgels loaded with polymyxin B and cross-linked by Ca2+, were formed by electrostatic…
Regulating the phase separation of ternary organic solar cells via 3D architectured AIE molecules
Adil, Muhammad Abdullah; Zhang, Jianqi; Wang, Yuheng; Yu, Jinde; Yang, Chen; Lu, Guanghao; Wei, Zhixiang
An optimized bulk heterojunction (BHJ) interface, certifying enhanced exciton-splitting, charge separation and recombination inhibition, is vastly desired to obtain high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). Herein, the ternary strategy has been employed to effectively modify the phase separation between the J71:ITIC blend by incorporating a 3D aggregation-induced emission (AIE) material,
Regulating Pore Structure of Hierarchical Porous Waste Cork-Derived Hard Carbon Anode for Enhanced Na Storage Performance
Li, Yuqi; Lu, Yaxiang; Meng, Qingshi; Jensen, Anders C. S.; Zhang, Qiangqiang; Zhang, Qinghua; Tong, Yuxin; Qi, Yuruo; Gu, Lin; Titirici, Maria-Magdalena; Hu, Yong-Sheng
Porous structure design is generally considered to be a reliable strategy to boost ion transport and provide active sites for disordered carbon anodes of Na-ion batteries (NIBs). Herein, a type of waste cork-derived hard carbon material (CC) is reported for efficient Na storage via tuning the pore species. Benefiting from…
Predicting the location of weld line in microinjection-molded polyethylene via molecular orientation distribution
Liao, Tao; Zhao, Xintong; Yang, Xiao; Whiteside, Ben; Coates, Phil; Jiang, Zhiyong; Men, Yongfeng
The microstructure and molecular orientation distribution over both the length and the thickness of microinjection-molded linear low-density polyethylene with a weld line were characterized as a function of processing parameters using small-angle X-ray scattering and wide-angle X-ray diffraction techniques. The weld line was introduced via recombination of two separated melt…
Synthesis of Anthracene Conjugates of Truncated Antifreeze Protein Sequences: Effect of the End Group and Photocontrolled Dimerization on Ice Recrystallization Inhibition Activity
Graham, Ben; Fayter, Alice E. R.; Gibson, Matthew I.
Biomacromolecular antifreezes distinguish ice from water, function by binding to specific planes of ice, and could have many applications from cryobiology to aerospace where ice is a problem. In biology, antifreeze protein (AFP) activity is regulated by protein expression levels via temperature and light-regulated expression systems, but in the laboratory…
Highly Stretchable Photonic Crystal Hydrogels for a Sensitive Mechanochromic Sensor and Direct Ink Writing
Chen, Jiayao; Xu, Lirong; Yang, Meijia; Chen, Xiaochuan; Chen, Xudong; Hong, Wei
Photonic crystals, which are materials with periodic dielectric constants on the submicroscale, have been the focus of research for an extended period. Photonic soft materials have been extensively developed for use as colorimetric indicators and mechanochromic sensors, but their limited mechanical properties and molding characteristics only suitable for films restrict…
Crystallization of forms I? and form II of polybutene-1 in stretched polypropylene/polybutene-1 blends
Xu, Yao; Ma, Yaping; Liu, Chenguang; Men, Yongfeng; He, Aihua
In this work, the effects of orientated crystal morphology of polypropylene (PP) induced by tensile stretching on the subsequent crystallization behavior of polybutene-1 (PB-1) in the incompatible PP/PB-1 (50/50) blends were studied. When the PP/PB-1 blends were stretched at a temperature above melting temperature (Tm) of PB-1 but below the…
Distinguishing Between Monomeric scFv and Diabody in Solution Using Light and Small Angle X-ray Scattering
Lüdel, Frank; Bufe, Sandra; Bleymüller, Willem M.; de Jonge, Hugo; Iamele, Luisa; Niemann, Hartmut H.; Hellweg, Thomas
Depending on the linker length between the V H and the V L domain, single-chain Fv (scFv) antibody fragments form monomers, dimers (diabodies) or higher oligomers. We aimed at generating a diabody of the anti-MET antibody 3H3 to use it as crystallization chaperone to promote crystallization of the MET ectodomain…