The controlled protein adsorption and delivery of thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) nanogels were investigated under different temperatures, pH values and ionic strengths by using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model protein. The BSA adsorption in deionized water was due to one or several of four contributions, i.e. the electrostatic attraction between BSA and nanogels, the seizing action of nanogels to BSA, the hydrophobic interaction between BSA and nanogels, and the physical diffusion of BSA, depending on the temperature and pH value. At 37 °C and pH 4.0, the largest BSA adsorption of 23.5 μg mg−1 was achieved by the above four contributions following electrostatic attraction (48%) > seizing action (21%) > hydrophobic interaction (16%) > physical diffusion (15%). The BSA adsorption in different sodium chloride solutions exhibited a maximum of 17.2 μg mg−1 at 0.03 M, which was influenced by the charge shielding of Na+ ions, salting out of BSA and nanogel aggregation. Most adsorbed BSA molecules were distributed on the nanogel surface except a few standing in the nanogel interior. The adsorbed BSA could be controllably delivered by tailoring the temperature and pH value, and with the aid of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The conformation of BSA adsorbed in hydrochloric acid solution (pH 4.0) significantly changed due to the acid environment and the electrostatic attraction between BSA and nanogels, but it could be completely recovered when BSA was delivered in deionized water or physiological saline. This work is instructive to design the controllable adsorption and delivery of proteins by using PNIPAM-based hydrogels as carriers.

Double-network (DN) hydrogels with high strength and toughness have been developed as promising materials. Herein, we explored a dual physically cross-linked polyacrylamide/xanthan gum (PAM/XG) DN hydrogel. The nonchemically cross-linked PAM/XG DN hydrogels exhibited fracture stresses as high as 3.64 MPa (13 times higher than the pure PAM single network hydrogel) and compressive stresses at 99% strain of more than 50 MPa. The hydrogels could restore their original shapes after continuously loading–unloading tensile and compressive cyclic tests. In addition, the PAM/XG DN hydrogels demonstrated excellent fatigue resistance, notch-insensitivity, high stability in different harsh environments, and remarkable self-healing properties, which might result from their distinctive physical-cross-linking structures. The attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and dynamic thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results indicated that there were no chemical bonds (only hydrogen bonds) between the XG and PAM networks. The PAM/XG DN hydrogel synthesis offers a new avenue for the design and construction of DN systems, broadening current research and applications of hydrogels with excellent mechanical properties.Keywords: double network hydrogels; fatigue resistance; high mechanical strength; notch-insensitivity; self-healing;

•Bacterial cellulose nanofiber clusters were used as crosslinker and strengthening agent to prepare nanocomposite hydrogel.•These hybrid hydrogels show excellent strength and toughness.•It could be compressed 99% without breaking and complete recovery.•Cell viability suggests that this hydrogel is benign for biomedical application.Hybrid polyacrylamide/bacterial cellulose nanofiber clusters (PAM/BC) hydrogels with high strength, toughness and recoverability were synthesized by in situ polymerization of acrylamide monomer in BC nanofiber clusters suspension. The hybrid gels exhibited an extremely large elongation at break of 2200%, and a high fracture stress of 1.35 MPa. Additionally, the original length of hydrogels could be recovered after releasing the tensile force. Compressive results showed that the PAM/BC hybrid gels could reach a strain of about 99% without break, and was able to completely recover its original shape immediately after releasing the compression force. The compressive stress at 99% reached as high as 30 MPa. Nearly no hysteresis in cyclic compressive tests was observed with these hybrid gels. The FT-IR, XRD and TGA analysis showed that hydrogen bonds between the PAM chains and BC nanofiber clusters mainly contributed to the superior mechanical properties of hybrid hydrogels. The cell viability results suggested that PAM/BC hybrid hydrogel was benign for biomedical application. These PAM/BC hydrogels offer a great promise as biomaterials such as bone and cartilage repair materials.

Highly blue-luminescent nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) are obtained by hydrothermal treatment of graphene oxide in the presence of ammonia. The yield of N-GQDs is about 8.7% in weight. A high quantum yield of maximum 24.6% at an excitation wavelength of 340 nm is achieved. They are applied for bioimaging of HeLa cells, and showed bright luminescence and excellent biocompatibility.

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and silver nanoparticle (AgNP) hybrids (RGO-AgNP) were prepared by a facile one-pot method using Poly (N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) as reductant and stabilizer. Folic acid (FA) molecules were attached to the RGO-AgNP by physisorption for targeting specific cancer cells with folate receptors (FRs) and using as Raman reporter molecules. The internalization of the FA loaded RGO-AgNP (RGO-AgNP-FA) inside the FRs-positive cancer cell was confirmed by confocal laser scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The Raman signals of the FA in live cancer cells were detected by confocal Raman spectroscope at 514 nm excitation, indicating that the RGO-AgNP-FA material has great potential as a Raman probe for cancer diagnosis in vitro.Keywords: cancer; diagnosis; folic acid; graphene oxide; silver nanoparticle; surface-enhanced Raman scattering;

Highly blue-luminescent nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) are obtained by hydrothermal treatment of graphene oxide in the presence of ammonia. The yield of N-GQDs is about 8.7% in weight. A high quantum yield of maximum 24.6% at an excitation wavelength of 340 nm is achieved. They are applied for bioimaging of HeLa cells, and showed bright luminescence and excellent biocompatibility.