Avian influenza virus subtype H9N2 has the ability to infect birds and humans, further causing significant losses to the poultry industry and even posing a great threat to human health. Oral vaccine received particular interest for preventing majority infection due to its ability to elicit both mucosal and systemic immune responses, but their development is limited by the bad gastrointestinal (GI) environment, compact epithelium and mucus barrier, and the lack of effective mucosal adjuvants. Herein, we developed the dendritic fibrous nano-silica (DFNS) grafted with Cistanche deserticola polysaccharide (CDP) nanoparticles (CDP-DFNS) as an adjuvant for H9N2 vaccine. Encouragingly, CDP-DFNS facilitated the proliferation of T and B cells, and further induced the activation of T lymphocytes in vitro. Moreover, CDP-DFNS/H9N2 significantly promoted the antigen-specific antibodies levels in serum and intestinal mucosal of chickens, indicating the good ability to elicit both systemic and mucosal immunity. Additional, CDP-DFNS facilitate the activation of CD4 + and CD8 + T cells both in spleen and intestinal mucosal, and the indexes of immune organs. This study suggested that CDP-DFNS may be a new avenue for development of oral vaccine against pathogens that are transmitted via mucosal route.

The interfacial mechanism has always been a concern for 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)-grafted palygorskite (PAL). In this research, the mechanism of graft modification for grafting of APTES to the surface of PAL (100) was studied using density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The results illustrated that different grafting states of the APTES influence the inter- and intramolecular interactions between APTES/PAL (100), which are reflected in the electronic structures. For single-, double-, and three-toothed state APTES-PAL (100), the charge transfer rates from the PAL (100) surface to APTES were 0.68, 1.02, and 0.77 e, respectively. The binding energy results show that PAL (100) modification performance in the double-tooth state is the best compared to the other states, with the lowest value of -181.91 kJ/mol. The double-toothed state has lower barrier energy (94.69, 63.11, and 153.67 kJ/mol) during the modification process. This study offers theoretical insights into the chemical modification of the PAL (100) surface using APTES coupling agents, and can provide a guide for practical applications.

Novel high-quality thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for enhanced forward osmosis (FO) were first synthesized through organic phase controlled interfacial polymerization by utilizing functional multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). As 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) grafted MWCNTs via an amidation reaction significantly promoted the dispersion in organic solution, MWCNTs-APTES with better compatibility effectively restricted the penetration of trimesoyl chloride (TMC), thus adjusting the morphology and characters of TFN membranes. Various techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), sessile droplet analysis and FO experiments and reverse osmosis (RO) operation were taken to characterize and evaluate the performance of nanocomposites and membranes. The prepared TFN FO membranes exhibited good hydrophilicity and separation efficiency, in which water flux was about twice those of thin film composite (TFC) membranes without MWCNTs-APTES in both AL-DS and AL-FS modes. Compared with the original TFC membrane, the membrane structural parameter of the novel TFN FO membrane sharply was cut down to 60.7%. Based on the large number of low mass-transfer resistance channels provided by functional nanocomposites, the progresses may provide a facile approach to fabricate novel TFN FO membranes with advanced selectivity and permeability.

In this work, the impact of APTES-modified TiO2 photocatalysts on antioxidant enzymes (catalase and superoxide dismutase) activity secreted by bacteria was presented. Microbial tests has been examined using Escherichia coli (ATCC 29425) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 49461) as model organisms. It was found that APTES-TiO2 affected the activity of antioxidant enzymes. Additionally, obtained APTES-TiO2 photocatalysts were capable of total E. coli and S. epidermidis inactivation under artificial solar light irradiation. The sample modified with the concentration of APTES equals 300 mM (TiO2-4h-120°C-300mM) showed the strongest photocatalytic activity toward both bacteria species. The two-stage photocatalytic mechanism of bacteria response to photocatalysts was proposed.

The removal of organic pollutants from water is highly desired because of the development of industrial and social economy. Superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic membranes are emerging materials for effective oil/water separation. In this paper, superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic polypropylene (PP) melt-blown membranes were prepared through melt-blown and in situ growth method, achieving highly efficient oil/water separation. After in situ growth, polydopamine (PDA) grows on the surface of PP fibers, and the addition of coupling agent (3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, APTES) can improve the stability of the membrane in harsh environments (1 M HCl, 1 M NaOH, 1 M NaCl). The PDA/APTES@PP membrane could dramatically enhance the wetting (water contact angle ∼0, underwater oil contact angle∼154°) compare with the pristine PP melt-blown membrane (water contact angle ∼130°, underwater oil contact angle ∼0). Moreover, the filtration performance is at a high level (∼99%). The behaviors are comparable or even superior to the typical reported results in the references (such as the mussel-inspired superhydrophilic PVDF membrane and copper mesh). This method provides a facile route to prepared multi-functional membrane for highly efficiency oil/water separation and industrial oily wastewater remediation.

Natural pozzolan is an amorphous silicate-based material of volcanic origin. In this work, the natural pozzolan was modified by using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) as a grafting agent. This material was characterized by pHpzc, N2 adsorption/desorption curves, FTIR, TGA/DTG, DRUV, SEM, and elementary analysis. The functionalized materials were used for the removal of Reactive Black 5 (RB-5) and Brilliant Green 1 (BG-1) dyes from aqueous solutions using batch-contact adsorption. The characterization of modified pozzolan by FTIR, TGA/DTG, BET, and DRUV-vis revealed the effectiveness of grafting of amine functional group on pozzolan structure. The kinetic adsorption data were better fitted with general order for both dyes while for equilibrium models were better fitted by the Liu isotherm model. The maximum sorption capacities Q max (at 50 °C) obtained with the modified pozzolan were 350.6 and 300.9 mg g-1 for BG-1 and RB-5, at pH 9.0 and 2.0, respectively. The thermodynamic parameters show that the removal of dyes was spontaneous and endothermic. The modified material was also tested for the treatment of simulated dye house effluents showing very high efficiency.