ACS Nano. 2026 Apr 10. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.6c02416. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Light-driven micro/nanorobots require semiconductor materials with efficient light harvesting and well-defined structural asymmetry to achieve high-performance propulsion. However, most reported systems rely on inorganic semiconductors with rigid band structures and limited stability, while polymeric semiconductors have been restricted by the lack of controllable asymmetric architectures. Here, we report a kinetically programmed one-pot strategy for constructing asymmetric polymeric semiconductor nanorobots with tunable island architectures. By regulating interfacial free energy and competitive nucleation kinetics, mesoporous aminophenol-formaldehyde resin/silica Janus nanoparticles with single-, dual-, and multi-island configurations are precisely synthesized. The resulting asymmetric nanostructures support synergistic light- and fuel-driven self-diffusiophoretic propulsion, allowing programmable motion behaviors. Benefiting from the autonomous motion and photocatalytic activity, the polymeric semiconductor nanorobots exhibit enhanced interaction with bacteria, deep biofilm penetration, and efficient diffusion of reactive oxygen species. This work establishes a general strategy for asymmetric polymeric semiconductor construction and highlights its potential in active antimicrobial and wound-healing nanomedicine.

PMID:41962049 | DOI:10.1021/acsnano.6c02416

Mar Pollut Bull. 2026 Apr 8;229:119660. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2026.119660. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Shipwreck incidents such as the M/V X-Press Pearl (Srilanka), and MSC ELSA 3 (Kerala) have released large quantities of plastic pellets, causing widespread coastal microplastic contamination. These events highlight ship-related spills as major sources of persistent marine microplastic pollution. The immediate ecological risk assessment during the critical golden hours after the shipwreck is vital for taking critical pollution mitigation measures. By quantifying plastic pellet abundance and identifying polymer composition across 11 coastal locations, the research applies the Polymer Hazard Index (PHI), Pollution Load Index (PLI), and Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) to transition from descriptive density metrics to a tiered risk assessment. The risk assessment identifies Varkala (PHI = 980.2; PLI = 11.8; PERI = 1354.2), Kovalam (PHI = 858.8; PLI = 12.5; PERI = 1331.6), and Perumathura (PHI = 910.6; PLI = 10.1; PERI = 920.6) as critical hotspots, reaching Hazard Category IV and “Extreme Danger” status due to the massive scale of the spill. While most other sites, such as Puthenthopp (PHI = 650, PLI = 1, PERI = 6.5), exhibit lower pollution load intensity and low ecological risk. The dominance of high PHI categories across the coast reflects significant potential for chemical toxicity from polymer additives and also may identified as persistent secondary sources for micro- and nanoplastics due to weathering. The study demonstrates that integrating PHI, PLI, and PERI provides a reliable preliminary framework for evaluating marine pollution during a shipwreck, where specific nurdle-risk tools are often lacking. The results emphasize that targeted cleanup, long-term monitoring, and integrated chemical-biological risk frameworks are essential to mitigate chronic toxicity, bioaccumulation, and sustained ecological impacts in tropical coastal systems.

PMID:41955771 | DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2026.119660

Talanta. 2026 Apr 7;307:129785. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2026.129785. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Phthalate esters (PAEs) are highly susceptible to leaching from plastic packaging into food products during processing, transport, and storage. Therefore, in this study, a newly synthesized sorbent material, phosphate-MIL-101(Cr)-NH₂/ polysulfone (PSF) porous beads, was introduced into a pipette tip micro-solid phase extraction coupled to HPLC-PDA for the quantification of six PAEs from food matrices. The porous beads effectively address the issue of the excessive backpressure in PT-μSPE, improve the reproducibility and stability of the adsorbent, and serve as an efficient adsorbent. Key experimental factors affecting extraction efficiency were optimized using a response surface methodology (RSM) model using central composite design (CCD). The synthesized porous sorbent material was characterized by SEM, TGA, EDS, FTIR, XRD, and N₂ adsorption analysis. The addition of phosphate functionality to the MIL-101(Cr)-NH₂ particles and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to polysulfone increases the extraction efficiency of the adsorbent and the porosity of the polymer. This method shows a reliable, rapid, and efficient approach with satisfactory EF, low LOD (0.3-4.0 μg/L), linearity range of (1.0-250.0 μg/L), and good precision RSD (1.2-4.3 %) in milk, PET bottled water, and juice.

PMID:41955784 | DOI:10.1016/j.talanta.2026.129785

Int J Biol Macromol. 2026 Apr 7:151888. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2026.151888. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Silk fibroin (SF) has attracted considerable attention in neuromorphic computing and flexible electronics owing to its outstanding biocompatibility. However, its inherently low thermal stability greatly limits its use in high-temperature and complex environments. In this work, we employed a dual-treatment strategy combining freeze-drying and chemical crosslinking to fabricate silk fibroin/carbon nanotube (SF/CNT) composite films, which markedly enhanced the thermal stability of SF. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the initial decomposition temperature of the composite film increased by ~65 °C compared to that of pure SF, indicating that the synergistic interaction between CNTs and SF effectively suppresses thermal degradation. More importantly, the SF/CNT film based memristor exhibits synapse-like plasticity and successfully emulates the Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro (BCM) learning rule. By regulating its electrical response under pulse stimulation, the device demonstrates synaptic weight updates dependent on pre and postsynaptic activities, reproducing the threshold sliding mechanism of the BCM rule via the intrinsic memory effect of the material. Furthermore, in a simple neuromorphic network model, the SF/CNT-based memristor achieves rate-dependent directional selectivity, highlighting its potential for spatiotemporal information processing. Overall, this study provides a new strategy for developing bio-based materials with integrated thermal stability and neuromorphic functionality, paving the way for their application in flexible, wearable, and implantable neuromorphic systems.

PMID:41956182 | DOI:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2026.151888

BMC Public Health. 2026 Apr 9. doi: 10.1186/s12889-026-27318-z. Online ahead of print.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:41957626 | DOI:10.1186/s12889-026-27318-z