George Philip Simon

Electrosorption, the accumulation of electrolyte ions at charged interfaces, is a common phenomenon across various electrochemical systems. Its impact is particularly pronounced in nanoporous electrodes owing to their high surface-to-volume ratios. Although electrosorption alters the ion distribution at the electrode-electrolyte interface through the formation of an electrical double layer, the effects of electrosorbed ions on the charge storage dynamics in nanoporous electrodes and their ability to improve charging processes have often been overlooked. Here we use a multilayered reduced graphene oxide-based membrane as a model nanoporous electrode material, integrating numerical simulations with experimental insights. We monitor the spatiotemporal distribution of electrosorbed ions and electrical potentials across the nanopore network during fast charging of symmetrical laboratory-scale cells using aqueous and non-aqueous electrolyte solutions. This method allowed us to quantitatively assess how features of the nanoporous electrode mesostructure, such as nanoslit size, the distribution of nanoslit sizes and electrode thickness, dynamically influence ion electrosorption and the local electrical and chemical potentials across the network. Our findings reveal that the mesostructure of nanoporous electrodes influences how migration and diffusion currents, mediated by electrosorbed ions, respond to charging rates.

Nanosheet-based membranes have shown enormous potential for energy-efficient molecular transport and separation applications, but designing these membranes for specific separations remains a great challenge due to the lack of good understanding of fluid transport mechanisms in complex nanochannels. We synthesized reduced MXene/graphene hetero-channel membranes with sub–1-nm pores for experimental measurements and theoretical modeling of their structures and fluid transport rates. Our experiments showed that upon complete rejection of salt and organic dyes, these membranes with subnanometer channels exhibit remarkably high solvent fluxes, and their solvent transport behavior is very different from their homo-structured counterparts. We proposed a subcontinuum flow model that enables accurate prediction of solvent flux in sub–1-nm slit-pore membranes by building a direct relationship between the solvent molecule–channel wall interaction and flux from the confined physical properties of a liquid and the structural parameters of the membranes. This work provides a basis for the rational design of nanosheet-based membranes for advanced separation and emerging nanofluidics.

3D printing is a rapidly growing area of interest within pharmaceutical science thanks to its versatility in creating different dose form geometries and drug doses to enable the personalisation of medicines. Research in this area has been dominated by polymer-based materials; however, for poorly water-soluble lipophilic drugs, lipid formulations present advantages in improving bioavailability. This study progresses the area of 3D-printed solid lipid formulations by providing a 3D-printed dissolvable polymer scaffold to compartmentalise solid lipid formulations within a single dosage form. This allows the versatility of different drugs in different lipid formulations, loaded into different compartments to generate wide versatility in drug release, and specific control over release geometry to tune release rates. Application to a range of drug molecules was demonstrated by incorporating the model lipophilic drugs; halofantrine, lumefantrine and clofazimine into the multicompartmental scaffolded tablets. Fenofibrate was used as the model drug in the single compartment scaffolded tablets for comparison with previous studies. The formulation-laden scaffolds were characterised using X-ray CT and dispersion of the formulation was studied using nephelometry, while release of a range of poorly water-soluble drugs into different gastrointestinal media was studied using HPLC. The studies show that dispersion and drug release are predictably dependent on the exposed surface area-to-volume ratio (SA:V) and independent of the drug. At the extremes of SA:V studied here, within 20 min of dissolution time, formulations with an SA:V of 0.8 had dispersed to between 90 and 110%, and completely released the drug, where as an SA:V of 0 yielded 0% dispersion and drug release. Therefore, this study presents opportunities to develop new dose forms with advantages in a polypharmacy context.

Viral disease outbreaks have been always a threat to global public health making affordable, rapid and accurate diagnostics highly important tools to slow down the spread of viruses and decrease the mortality rate. Point‐of‐care (POC) diagnostics have emerged as a strong tool for the diagnosis of viral infections, especially in countries where health‐care systems are inadequate to provide proper services to all citizens. According to the World Health Organization, an ideal POC diagnostic must be Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User‐friendly, Rapid/Robust, Equipment‐free and Deliverable (ASSURED). This review surveys carefully each ASSURED criterion and identifies where existing viral POC diagnostics fail to meet these criteria. Given the widespread concern with plastic pollution, we also propose the addition of 'disposability' to the existing ASSURED criteria and consider the letter “D” as the representative of both Deliverable and Disposable. Next, the POC tests used for the diagnosis of several common human viral infections which met all the ASSURED criteria (ASSURED‐compliant) are described in detail. Finally, the future of ASSURED‐compliant POC diagnostics, capable of generating comparable results to the viral diagnostic gold standards, is discussed.

Invited for this month's cover is the international collaborative work from the Bioresource Processing Research Institute of Australia (BioPRIA)‐Monash University and URD Agro‐Biotechnologies Industrielles (ABI)‐AgroParisTech. The cover image shows how the grafting of Nature‐inspired and bio‐based phenolic esters on cellulose nanocrystals through click‐chemistry provides materials with highly photostable UV‐blocking properties. Cover art by David Mendoza. The Full Paper itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.202002017.