Introduction: Professional workers that manufacture or use titanium dioxide (TiO2)-based paints are exposed to potentially toxic TiO2 nanomaterials as well as to different paint solvents such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). In this context, we evaluate the combined cytotoxic effects of TiO2 nanoparticles and DMSO on HepG2 human hepatocytes.

A biosensor is an element employed for the detection of an analyte by combining a biological component with a physico-chemical detector component. Biological component can be microorganisms, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids. The detector works in a physico-chemical way like electrochemical, optical, piezoelectrical, electrochemical or thermal that transforms the signal resulting from the interaction of the analyte with the biological element into another signal that can be easily measured and quantified.

Molecular self-assembly is a key function in biology and has been developed as an elegant technique for fabrication of various complex structures and functional materials. Key importance for structural formation in terms of self-assembly is molecular recognition pertaining to intermolecular weak interactions such as hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonds, p-p stacking, electrostatic forces and dipole-dipole interactions etc. A combination of several kinds of such weak interactions can govern molecular organization and thus ordered supramolecular architectures. Among molecular building blocks are the bioinspired and bioderived molecules including peptides and proteins. Peptides consisting of several amino acids are most popular over decades for development of molecular biomaterials owing to ease of availability, programmable molecular motif, biocompatibility and biodegradation, flexible functionality and low cost-effectiveness. The nanostructures and materials assembled using peptides as building blocks have presented an important potential for green-life new technology and biomedical applications. In this opinion, self-assembly and application of several kinds of peptides including aromatic dipeptides, polypeptides, amphiphilic peptides, lipopeptides, and inorganic-hybridized peptide will be stated briefly.

To investigate the electrochemical performance of MO (M=Co, Fe, Ni) nanostructures on lithium insertion and extraction, size-controlled LiF-MO nanocomposite thin-film electrodes, consisting of metallic M and M oxide (MO) nanoparticles in an amorphous, inert LiF matrix, were designed and fabricated using a RF sputtering system with metallic M and LiF mixture targets. The structural and electrochemical properties of nanocomposite thin-film electrodes were characterized using TEM, SAED, XRD, XPS, and electrochemical measurements. The results showed that MO particles with average particle sizes of ca.10nm were well-dispersed in LiF matrix to form a kind of homogeneous LiF-MO nanocomposite by the sputtering method. The inert medium of LiF provides an effective matrix to prevent the crystallization and agglomeration of MO during the deposition and electrochemical cycling of the thin film electrode, and then the well-formed nanophase structure in the nanocomposite thin-film electrodes leads to an excellent electrochemical cycling performance with the stable discharge specific capacity above 300mAh/g.

Solar cells or photovoltaic (PV) cells involve the direct conversion of light energy into electrical energy. PV cells are basically p-n junctions made from layers of semiconducting materials. Under light illumination, either free electron-hole pairs are generated within the bulk of the layers and subsequently separated through the internal electric field across the depletion layer of the junction (in conventional solar cells), or exactions are created and simultaneously separated across a hetero-interface (in excitonic solar cells), thus producing an open-circuited photo voltage [1,2]. Upon connection with an external circuit, an electric current is drawn out and used for powering outside devices. This photocurrent, along with the photo voltage, defines the power that the solar cell can deliver.