TY - JOUR A1 - Ugwuja, Chidinma G. A1 - Adelowo, Olawale O. A1 - Ogunlaja, Aemere A1 - Omorogie, Martins O. A1 - Olukanni, Olumide D. A1 - Ikhimiukor, Odion O. A1 - Iermak, Ievgeniia A1 - Kolawole, Gabriel A. A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Bodede, Olusola A1 - Moodley, Roshila A1 - Inada, Natalia M. A1 - Camargo, Andrea S.S. de A1 - Unuabonah, Emmanuel Iyayi T1 - Visible-Light-Mediated Photodynamic Water Disinfection @ Bimetallic-Doped Hybrid Clay Nanocomposites JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces N2 - This study reports a new class of photocatalytic hybrid clay nanocomposites prepared from low-cost sources (kaolinite clay and Carica papaya seeds) doped with Zn and Cu salts via a solvothermal process. X-ray diffraction analysis suggests that Cu-doping and Cu/Zn-doping introduce new phases into the crystalline structure of Kaolinite clay, which is linked to the reduced band gap of kaolinite from typically between 4.9 and 8.2 eV to 2.69 eV for Cu-doped and 1.5 eV for Cu/Zn hybrid clay nanocomposites (Nisar, J.; Arhammar, C.; Jamstorp, E.; Ahuja, R. Phys. Rev. B 2011, 84, 075120). In the presence of solar light irradiation, Cu- and Cu/Zn-doped nanocomposites facilitate the electron hole pair separation. This promotes the generation of singlet oxygen which in turn improves the water disinfection efficiencies of these novel nanocomposite materials. The nanocomposite materials were further characterized using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy, fluorimetry, therrnogravimetric analysis, and Raman spectroscopy. The breakthrough times of the nanocomposites for a fixed bed mode of disinfection of water contaminated with 2.32 x 10(7) cfu/mL E. coli ATCC 25922 under solar light irradiation are 25 h for Zn-doped, 30 h for Cu-doped, and 35 h for Cu/Zn-doped nanocomposites. In the presence of multidrug and multimetal resistant strains of E. coli, the breakthrough time decreases significantly. Zn-only doped nanocomposites are not photocatalytically active. In the absence of light, the nanocomposites are still effective in decontaminating water, although less efficient than under solar light irradiation. Electrostatic interaction, metal toxicity, and release of singlet oxygen (only in the Cu-doped and Cu/Zn-doped nanocomposites) are the three disinfection mechanisms by which these nanocomposites disinfect water. A regrowth study indicates the absence of any living E. coli cells in treated water even after 4 days. These data and the long hydraulic times (under gravity) exhibited by these nanocomposites during photodisinfection of water indicate an unusually high potential of these nanocomposites as efficient, affordable, and sustainable point-of-use systems for the disinfection of water in developing countries. KW - disinfection KW - nanocomposite material KW - multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli KW - water KW - reactive oxygen species Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b01212 SN - 1944-8244 SN - 1944-8252 VL - 11 IS - 28 SP - 25483 EP - 25494 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pereira, Rui F. P. A1 - Zehbe, Kerstin A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - dos Santos, Tiago A1 - Nunes, Silvia C. A1 - Almeida Paz, Filipe A. A1 - Silva, Maria M. A1 - Granja, Pedro L. A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - de Zea Bermudez, Verónica T1 - Ionic liquid-assisted synthesis of mesoporous silk fibroin/silica hybrids for biomedical applications JF - ACS Omega N2 - New mesoporous silk fibroin (SF)/silica hybrids were processed via a one-pot soft and energy-efficient sol-gel chemistry and self-assembly from a silica precursor, an acidic or basic catalyst, and the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, acting as both solvent and mesoporosity-inducer. The as-prepared materials were obtained as slightly transparent-opaque, amorphous monoliths, easily transformed into powders, and stable up to ca. 300 degrees C. Structural data suggest the formation of a hexagonal mesostructure with low range order and apparent surface areas, pore volumes, and pore radii of 205-263 m(2) g(-1), 0.16-0.19 cm(3) g(-1), and 1.2-1.6 nm, respectively. In all samples, the dominating conformation of the SF chains is the beta-sheet. Cytotoxicity/bioactivity resazurin assays and fluorescence microscopy demonstrate the high viability of MC3T3 pre-osteoblasts to indirect (>= 99 +/- 9%) and direct (78 +/- 2 to 99 +/- 13%) contact with the SF/silica materials. Considering their properties and further improvements, these systems are promising candidates to be explored in bone tissue engineering. They also offer excellent prospects as electrolytes for solid-state electrochemical devices, in particular for fuel cells. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.8b02051 SN - 2470-1343 VL - 3 IS - 9 SP - 10811 EP - 10822 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kim, Yohan A1 - Heyne, Benjamin A1 - Abouserie, Ahed A1 - Pries, Christopher A1 - Ippen, Christian A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Wedel, Armin T1 - CuS nanoplates from ionic liquid precursors-Application in organic photovoltaic cells JF - The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr N2 - Hexagonal p-type semiconductor CuS nanoplates were synthesized via a hot injection method from bis(trimethylsilyl) sulfide and the ionic liquid precursor bis(N-dodecylpyridinium) tetrachloridocuprate( II). The particles have a broad size distribution with diameters between 30 and 680 nm and well-developed crystal habits. The nanoplates were successfully incorporated into organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells as hole conduction materials. The power conversion efficiency of OPV cells fabricated with the nanoplates is 16% higher than that of a control device fabricated without the nanoplates. (C) 2018 Author(s). Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4991622 SN - 0021-9606 SN - 1089-7690 VL - 148 IS - 19 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Block, Inga A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Rodrigues, Alysson Duarte A1 - Paasch, Silvia A1 - Hesemann, Peter A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Carbon Adsorbents from Spent Coffee for Removal of Methylene Blue and Methyl Orange from Water JF - Materials N2 - Activated carbons (ACs) were prepared from dried spent coffee (SCD), a biological waste product, to produce adsorbents for methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) from aqueous solution. Pre-pyrolysis activation of SCD was achieved via treatment of the SCD with aqueous sodium hydroxide solutions at 90 °C. Pyrolysis of the pretreated SCD at 500 °C for 1 h produced powders with typical characteristics of AC suitable and effective for dye adsorption. As an alternative to the rather harsh base treatment, calcium carbonate powder, a very common and abundant resource, was also studied as an activator. Mixtures of SCD and CaCO3 (1:1 w/w) yielded effective ACs for MO and MB removal upon pyrolysis needing only small amounts of AC to clear the solutions. A selectivity of the adsorption process toward anionic (MO) or cationic (MB) dyes was not observed. KW - water KW - spent coffee KW - dye adsorption KW - methylene blue KW - methyl orange KW - calcium carbonate KW - activated carbon KW - water treatment KW - dye removal Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14143996 SN - 1996-1944 VL - 14 IS - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krüger, Stefanie A1 - Schwarze, Michael A1 - Baumann, Otto A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Bruns, Michael A1 - Kübel, Christian A1 - Szabo, Dorothee Vinga A1 - Meinusch, Rafael A1 - Bermudez, Veronica de Zea A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Bombyx mori silk/titania/gold hybrid materials for photocatalytic water splitting BT - combining renewable raw materials with clean fuels JF - Beilstein journal of nanotechnology N2 - The synthesis, structure, and photocatalytic water splitting performance of two new titania (TiO2)/gold(Au)/Bombyx mori silk hybrid materials are reported. All materials are monoliths with diameters of up to ca. 4.5 cm. The materials are macroscopically homogeneous and porous with surface areas between 170 and 210 m(2)/g. The diameter of the TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) - mainly anatase with a minor fraction of brookite - and the Au NPs are on the order of 5 and 7-18 nm, respectively. Addition of poly(ethylene oxide) to the reaction mixture enables pore size tuning, thus providing access to different materials with different photocatalytic activities. Water splitting experiments using a sunlight simulator and a Xe lamp show that the new hybrid materials are effective water splitting catalysts and produce up to 30 mmol of hydrogen per 24 h. Overall the article demonstrates that the combination of a renewable and robust scaffold such as B. mori silk with a photoactive material provides a promising approach to new monolithic photocatalysts that can easily be recycled and show great potential for application in lightweight devices for green fuel production. KW - Bombyx mori silk KW - gold KW - photocatalytic water splitting KW - titania Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.9.21 SN - 2190-4286 VL - 9 SP - 187 EP - 204 PB - Beilstein-Institut zur Förderung der Chemischen Wissenschaften CY - Frankfurt, Main ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balischewski, Christian A1 - Behrens, Karsten A1 - Zehbe, Kerstin A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Mies, Stefan A1 - Sperlich, Eric A1 - Kelling, Alexandra A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Ionic liquids with more than one metal BT - optical and rlectrochemical properties versus d-block metal vombinations JF - Chemistry - a European journal N2 - Thirteen N-butylpyridinium salts, including three monometallic [C4Py](2)[MCl4], nine bimetallic [C4Py](2)[(M1-xMxCl4)-M-a-Cl-b] and one trimetallic compound [C4Py](2)[(M1-y-zMyMz (c) Cl4)-M-a-M-b] (M=Co, Cu, Mn; x=0.25, 0.50 or 0.75 and y=z=0.33), were synthesized and their structure and thermal and electrochemical properties were studied. All compounds are ionic liquids (ILs) with melting points between 69 and 93 degrees C. X-ray diffraction proves that all ILs are isostructural. The conductivity at room temperature is between 10(-4) and 10(-8) S cm(-1). Some Cu-based ILs reach conductivities of 10(-2) S cm(-1), which is, however, probably due to IL dec. This correlates with the optical bandgap measurements indicating the formation of large bandgap semiconductors. At elevated temperatures approaching the melting points, the conductivities reach up to 1.47x10(-1) S cm(-1) at 70 degrees C. The electrochemical stability windows of the ILs are between 2.5 and 3.0 V. KW - bandgap KW - electrochemistry KW - ionic liquids KW - metal-containing ionic KW - liquids KW - tetrahalido metallates Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202003097 SN - 0947-6539 SN - 1521-3765 VL - 26 IS - 72 SP - 17504 EP - 17513 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneider, Matthias A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Co-deposition of a hydrogel/calcium phosphate hybrid layer on 3D printed poly(lactic acid) scaffolds via dip coating BT - Towards Automated Biomaterials Fabrication JF - Polymers N2 - The article describes the surface modification of 3D printed poly(lactic acid) (PLA) scaffolds with calcium phosphate (CP)/gelatin and CP/chitosan hybrid coating layers. The presence of gelatin or chitosan significantly enhances CP co-deposition and adhesion of the mineral layer on the PLA scaffolds. The hydrogel/CP coating layers are fairly thick and the mineral is a mixture of brushite, octacalcium phosphate, and hydroxyapatite. Mineral formation is uniform throughout the printed architectures and all steps (printing, hydrogel deposition, and mineralization) are in principle amenable to automatization. Overall, the process reported here therefore has a high application potential for the controlled synthesis of biomimetic coatings on polymeric biomaterials. KW - 3D printing KW - dip-coating KW - poly(lactic acid) KW - PLA KW - calcium phosphate KW - gelatin KW - chitosan KW - hydrogel KW - calcium phosphate hybrid material KW - biomaterials Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10030275 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 10 IS - 3 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Behrens, Karsten A1 - Balischewski, Christian A1 - Sperlich, Eric A1 - Menski, Antonia Isabell A1 - Balderas-Valadez, Ruth Fabiola A1 - Pacholski, Claudia A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Lubahn, Susanne A1 - Kelling, Alexandra A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Mixed chloridometallate(ii) ionic liquids with tunable color and optical response for potential ammonia sensors JF - RSC Advances N2 - Eight d-metal-containing N-butylpyridinium ionic liquids (ILs) with the nominal composition (C4Py)2[Ni0.5M0.5Cl4] or (C4Py)2[Zn0.5M0.5Cl4] (M = Cu, Co, Mn, Ni, Zn; C4Py = N-butylpyridinium) were synthesized, characterized, and investigated for their optical properties. Single crystal and powder X-ray analysis shows that the compounds are isostructural to existing examples based on other d-metal ions. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy measurements confirm that the metal/metal ratio is around 50 : 50. UV-Vis spectroscopy shows that the optical absorption can be tuned by selection of the constituent metals. Moreover, the compounds can act as an optical sensor for the detection of gases such as ammonia as demonstrated via a simple prototype setup. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d2ra05581c SN - 2046-2069 VL - 12 SP - 35072 EP - 35082 PB - RSC CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balischewski, Christian A1 - Bhattacharyya, Biswajit A1 - Sperlich, Eric A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Beqiraj, Alkit A1 - Klamroth, Tillmann A1 - Behrens, Karsten A1 - Mies, Stefan A1 - Kelling, Alexandra A1 - Lubahn, Susanne A1 - Holtzheimer, Lea A1 - Nitschke, Anne A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Tetrahalidometallate(II) ionic liquids with more than one metal BT - the effect of bromide versus chloride JF - Chemistry - a European journal N2 - Fifteen N-butylpyridinium salts - five monometallic [C4Py](2)[MBr4] and ten bimetallic [C4Py](2)[(M0.5M0.5Br4)-M-a-Br-b] (M=Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Zn) - were synthesized, and their structures and thermal and electrochemical properties were studied. All the compounds are ionic liquids (ILs) with melting points between 64 and 101 degrees C. Powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction show that all ILs are isostructural. The electrochemical stability windows of the ILs are between 2 and 3 V. The conductivities at room temperature are between 10(-5) and 10(-6) S cm(-1). At elevated temperatures, the conductivities reach up to 10(-4) S cm(-1) at 70 degrees C. The structures and properties of the current bromide-based ILs were also compared with those of previous examples using chloride ligands, which illustrated differences and similarities between the two groups of ILs. KW - electrochemistry KW - ionic liquids KW - metal-containing ionic liquids; KW - N-butylpyridinium bromide KW - tetrahalidometallates Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202201068 SN - 1521-3765 VL - 28 IS - 64 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mai, Tobias A1 - Boye, Susanne A1 - Yuan, Jiayin A1 - Völkel, Antje A1 - Gräwert, Marlies A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Lederer, Albena A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Poly(ethylene oxide)-based block copolymers with very high molecular weights for biomimetic calcium phosphate mineralization JF - RSC Advances : an international journal to further the chemical sciences N2 - The present article is among the first reports on the effects of poly(ampholyte)s and poly(betaine)s on the biomimetic formation of calcium phosphate. We have synthesized a series of di- and triblock copolymers based on a non-ionic poly(ethylene oxide) block and several charged methacrylate monomers, 2-(trimethylammonium)ethyl methacrylate chloride, 2-((3-cyanopropyl)-dimethylammonium)ethyl methacrylate chloride, 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt, and [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide. The resulting copolymers are either positively charged, ampholytic, or betaine block copolymers. All the polymers have very high molecular weights of over 106 g mol−1. All polymers are water-soluble and show a strong effect on the precipitation and dissolution of calcium phosphate. The strongest effects are observed with triblock copolymers based on a large poly(ethylene oxide) middle block (nominal Mn = 100 000 g mol−1). Surprisingly, the data show that there is a need for positive charges in the polymers to exert tight control over mineralization and dissolution, but that the exact position of the charge in the polymer is of minor importance for both calcium phosphate precipitation and dissolution. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ra20035k SN - 2046-2069 IS - 5 SP - 103494 EP - 103505 PB - RSC Publishing CY - London ER -