Chengguo Liu

A biobased, chemically recyclable, and intrinsically antibacterial photo-curable resin was developed employing tannic acid as a rigid, multifunctional structural block.

Developing recycling photo‐curing 3D printing materials (especially using renewable biobased feedstocks) can greatly alleviate environmental burden raised by the rapid development of 3D printing industry. Currently, it is still hard to achieve both high performance and excellent recyclability for such materials. In this study, by using a typical biobased phenol (i.e., eugenol) as starting material, we design biobased photopolymers containing dynamic dissociative phenol‐carbamate bonds, part of which come from the phenol itself. The obtained materials not only have relatively high biobased contents, but also demonstrate excellent thermal and mechanical properties. Subsequently, the materials are conveniently recycled by a proposed “mixed‐monomer assisted recycling” strategy, and high recovery efficiencies in at least three cycles were achieved. Furthermore, the materials indicate exceptional 3D printing performance and functionalities (such as oral bacteria inhibition and shape memory) as well as low environmental impacts. Overall, the combination of rigid biobased feedstocks (especially biobased phenols) and suitable dissociative covalent bonds offers the opportunity to develop high performance, recycling photopolymers with more functionalities and better sustainability.

This review highlights plant oil-based dynamic covalent polymers, emphasizing their environmental benefits, performance enhancement, and innovative applications.

The advancement of smart packaging technology demands high-performance and sustainable sensing materials. While starch is a biodegradable natural polymer, its inherent high crystallinity restricts charge transport capability. This study developed a novel smart sensing film by incorporating ellagic acid-derived blue, fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) into phosphate starch (PS), which is rich in phosphorus. The effects of silver ions (Ag⁺), sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and CDs on the film properties were systematically investigated. Results indicate that CDs act as flexible nano-crosslinkers, forming hydrogen bonds with PS molecular chains and effectively balancing strength and toughness—achieving a tensile strength of 5.1 MPa and an elongation at break of 24.1%. Phosphorus, in synergy with CDs, facilitates an efficient dual conduction pathway for ions and electrons: phosphate groups enable ion transport, while the conjugated carbon cores of the CDs provide electron transport channels. This synergistic effect significantly reduces the film’s electrical impedance from 6.93 × 10⁶ Ω to 1.12 × 10⁶ Ω (a reduction of 84%) and enhances thermal stability, increasing the char residue from 1.1% to 18.3%. The PS/CDs composite film exhibits a strong linear current response to pH in the range of 2–7 (R² = 0.9450), and shows enhanced discrimination between fresh orange juice (pH = 3.38) and spoiled orange juice (pH = 2.68), with a current change of 0.62 × 10⁻⁵ A. Moreover, the film exhibits strong blue fluorescence at 427 nm, with an intensity that shows a pronounced pH-dependent response. This study elucidates the mechanism by which phosphorus and CDs synergistically enhance the sensing performance of starch-based films, offering a new strategy for developing high-performance starch-based materials for smart packaging.

This study presents the development of a starch-based smart film enhanced with carbon dots (CDs), which exhibits high pH sensitivity for the rapid assessment of liquid food quality. CDs were synthesized from ellagic acid and urea as precursors and incorporated into amylopectin (CA) and whole-component starch (CS) matrices, yielding a range of starch-based/CDs composite films. Structural analyses indicated that hydrogen bonding interactions between the CDs and starch molecules not only provided a nano-plasticizing effect-significantly improving film flexibility, as evidenced by a 29.6-fold increase in the elongation at break of the CS/CDs-2 film—but also slightly enhanced the crystallinity by acting as a nucleating agent. The incorporation of CDs markedly improved the electrochemical properties of the films, reducing the electrical impedance by several orders of magnitude and imparting intense blue fluorescence. The fluorescence intensity and current response of the composite film were found to be highly sensitive to pH variations. A strong linear positive correlation (R² > 0.97) was observed between the current output and pH over the range of 2 to 7. In a simulated orange juice spoilage test, the film effectively distinguished between fresh (pH = 3.38) and spoiled (pH = 2.68) samples based on current signal differences, demonstrating its practical utility. This work offers a novel approach for designing low-cost, biodegradable sensing materials for smart packaging, with promising potential in real-time food freshness monitoring.

Photocurable resins have been widely utilized in industrial areas such as coatings, inks and 3D printing as the photocuring technology has the merits of fast curing rate at ambient temperature, low energy consumption, low volatile organic chemical (VOC) emissions, etc. However, affected by the crises including depletion of petroleum resources, greenhouse effect and environmental pollution, developing such polymer materials from renewable biomass have attracted extensive attention. In this paper, the researches on the preparation, high performance, and functionalization of photocurable resin derived from biomass like plant oil, natural phenol, cellulose, and lignin in recent years are reviewed. The structure–property relationships and industrial application potential of the photocurable resins are systematically explored, and the development direction of this field is prospected, which provide theoretical guidance and technical support for the subsequent development of high‐performance and functional biomass‐derived photocurable resins.

Flexible shape-editable transparent wood was prepared by addition reaction and free radical polymerization. The wood skeleton promotes directional enhancement and energy dissipation, and the acetal linkages ensure shape memory and editability.

Lignin and cellulose derivatives have vast potential to be applied in polymer materials. The preparation of cellulose and lignin derivatives through esterification modification is an important method to endow cellulose and lignin with good reactivity, processability and functionality. In this study, ethyl cellulose and lignin are modified via esterification to prepare olefin−functionalized ethyl cellulose and lignin, which are further used to prepare cellulose and lignin cross−linker polymers via thiol–ene click chemistry. The results show that the olefin group concentration in olefin−functionalized ethyl cellulose and lignin reached 2.8096 mmol/g and 3.7000 mmol/g. The tensile stress at break of the cellulose cross−linked polymers reached 23.59 MPa. The gradual enhancement in mechanical properties is positively correlated with the olefin group concentration. The existence of ester groups in the cross−linked polymers and degradation products makes them more thermally stable. In addition, the microstructure and pyrolysis gas composition are also investigated in this paper. This research is of vast significance to the chemical modification and practical application of lignin and cellulose.

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is one of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which can cause severe nephrotoxicity in mammals. Cannabinol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive cannabinoid obtained from the cannabis plant, has attracted attention in recent years for its excellent antioxidant properties. NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) has an important effect in supporting normal renal physiological function. The potential mechanisms of PFOS nephrotoxicity and whether CBD can prevent renal damage caused by PFOS remain unclear. This work aimed to study the mechanisms of PFOS‐induced kidney damage and the protective role of CBD against PFOS‐induced kidney damage. We demonstrated that PFOS led to renal insufficiency and structural damage in mice, induced overexpression of NOX4 and the onset of oxidative stress, and activated apoptosis of the mitochondrial pathway via the JNK signaling pathway. However, treatment with CBD reversed these changes. For further investigation of the potential mechanism of PFOS‐induced renal cell apoptosis, the expression of NOX4 was inhibited in vitro experiments using Apocynin, an effective NOX4 inhibitor. The outcomes showed that PFOS‐induced ROS production and JNK signaling pathway activation and apoptosis in human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells were significantly reduced after inhibition of NOX4. This suggests that PFOS‐induced NOX4 overexpression serves as an upstream event for JNK pathway activation. In conclusion, the findings suggest that PFOS induces apoptosis in renal cells via the NOX4/ROS/JNK pathway. Meanwhile, CBD alleviated PFOS‐induced renal apoptosis through the inhibition of NOX4/ROS/JNK axis activation.