Efficient delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 system and its larger derivatives, base editors, and prime editors remain a major challenge, particularly in tissue-specific stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This study optimized a novel family of cell-penetrating peptides, hPep, to deliver gene-editing ribonucleoproteins. The hPep-based nanoparticles enable highly efficient and biocompatible delivery of Cre recombinase, Cas9, base-, and prime editors. Using base editors, robust and nearly complete genome editing was achieved in the human cells: HEK293T (96%), iPSCs (74%), and muscle stem cells (80%). This strategy opens promising avenues for ex vivo and, potentially, in vivo applications. Incorporating silica particles enhanced the system's versatility, facilitating cargo-agnostic delivery. Notably, the nanoparticles can be synthesized quickly on a benchtop and stored as lyophilized powder without compromising functionality. This represents an important advancement in the feasibility and scalability of gene-editing delivery technologies.

This study presents an innovative approach to the recovery of nickel from industrial wastewater using cost-effective carbon fiber electrodes, aiming to provide a sustainable and scalable solution for industrial effluent management. Carbon fibers offer unique benefits in electrochemical recovery processes due to their high surface area, excellent conductivity, mechanical durability, and compatibility with low-cost production. The optimized conditions, including a deposition potential of 4 V, pH 3.5, and temperature of 60 degrees C, achieved a high nickel recovery efficiency of 90%, with minimal energy consumption at 3 kW h per kilogram of nickel. This efficiency was verified through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyses, which revealed uniform and dense nickel coatings on the carbon fibers, even under continuous operation. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed successful nickel deposition and modifications to the carbon fiber surface chemistry, enhancing the adsorption and reduction of nickel ions. Using carbon fiber electrodes in this process addresses several limitations in traditional electrode materials by reducing costs, improving scalability, and supporting continuous, large-scale nickel recovery. This method offers a viable alternative to conventional electrochemical metal recovery and contributes to circular resource utilization by recycling valuable metals from wastewater. With regulatory pressures increasing around heavy metal discharge limits, this carbon fiber-based electrodeposition process presents a highly promising solution for industrial wastewater treatment, combining environmental sustainability with economic feasibility.

The study demonstrates a scalable and reproducible method for synthesising graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets from commercial carbon fibres derived from carbonised polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer. An exfoliation route with nitric acid allows for the preparation of monolayer GO nanosheets with a consistent thickness of 0.9 ± 0.2 nm, identical to the commercially available GO from mined graphite. The GO nanosheets exhibit distinct circular and elliptical shapes, in contrast to the polygonal and sharp-edged morphology of commercial GO. An extensive evaluation of acidic solutions and electrical potentials identified a narrow processing window critical for obtaining GO nanosheets sized 0.1–1 µm. An unexpectedly low 5% acid concentration was found to be the most effective, providing a balance between efficient exfoliation through synergistic acidic and electrochemical oxidation. The process provides a high yield of 200 mg of GO per gram of carbon fibre. Advanced characterisation using high-resolution electron and atomic force microscopy (HR-TEM/SEM/AFM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) provided detailed insights into the morphology, thickness, surface functionalisation, and chemical composition of the nanosheets. With its high yield, environmentally sound production, and versatility, the synthesised GO offers transformative potential for large-scale applications, including energy storage, advanced coatings, high-performance composites, water purification, and electronic devices.

Mycelium derived from Ganoderma lucidum was employed as a template for synthesising silicon oxide (SiOx) nanofibers. The intricate structures of mycelial hyphae fibrils were replicated with high precision using an inexpensive commercial silane (3-aminopropyl)-triethoxysilane (APTES). Following the removal of the organic mycelium template phase at 600 degrees C, APTES was successfully converted to SiOx. The resulting SiOx fibres retained the morphology of the mycelium template, with a nearly identical fibre density to the original fibrous network. A fibril diameter reduction of approximately 43% was observed from 603 to 344 nm. All synthesised materials exhibited coherent structural integrity, sufficient for handling without breakage, although they were notably less mechanically flexible than the original mycelium template. The novel hybrid mycelium-3-aminopropyl-silsesquioxane fibre network and the thermally converted SiOx network displayed notable liquid absorption properties. These materials allowed for the preferential absorption of oil or water, depending on the presence of the amino group functionality. Remarkably, the SiOx network rapidly absorbed methylene blue-dyed water within 400 ms, demonstrating behaviour opposite to the virgin mycelium network. Additionally, the materials exhibited high thermal stability, withstanding flame exposure at approximately 1400 degrees C while maintaining their nano/micromorphology. This innovative approach of using "living" templates expands the range of morphologies that can be replicated in inorganic materials, enabling the creation of genetically and environmentally tuneable structures. The SiOx nanofibers produced through this method have potential applications in various fields, including water purification, biosensors, catalytic support, and insulation.

Modern insulation materials such as mineral wool are common but have known health risks. Cellulose-based insulation is an improvement regarding health but is flammable by itself and can settle. Aerogels are an attractive insulation material due to their incredible insulation while also very light, they are made from an abundant non-toxic material (silicon oxide). Several challenges need to be overcome to be viable for common use. Critical point drying is often used which is slow and has a high risk of failure. Further aerogels are brittle where even small deformations result in breaking, limiting their use.This work focused on using graphene oxide, mycelium, or cellulose as organic templates to make organic/inorganic hybrid aerogels by controlled silane condensation.Using graphene oxide (GO) showed that both APTES and TEOS were able to form uniform, smooth silane layers on an organic GO template. It was also possible to remove the GO template without changing the formed silicon oxide material using high temperature. With similar developed condensation conditions, it was possible to form SiOx coatings on bacterial cellulose nanofibrils (bCNF), the choice of silane allowed control over the formed coating morphology, and the modified bCNF dispersion could be freeze-dried into aerogels. To explore the developed coating methodology, another promising insulation material (mycelium) was used as a template. The mimicking of the mycelium hyphae was shown possible, enabling silicon oxide nanofibers after the removal of the mycelium template. Lastly, sol-gel formed organic/inorganic aerogels were developed, using bCNF as a toughening matrix, enabling high flexibility without crack formation or shattering even after significant deformation. The aerogels were thermally stable, flexibile, and avoided critical point drying allowing for large-scale aerogel production.

Moderna isoleringsmaterial som mineralull är vanliga men har kända hälsorisker. Cellulosabaserad isolering är ett hälsomässigt bättre alternativ, men är ofta brandfarlig och kan sjunka ihop. Aerogeler är ett attraktivt isoleringsmaterial för deras höga isoleringsförmåga och låg vikt. Dessutom är de basserade på (kiseloxid) som är vanlig och icke-toxiskt. Aerogeler har flera utmaningar före de kan övervägas för kommersielt bruk. Kritisk punkt-torkning används ofta, vilket är en långsam process med hög risk för misslyckande. Dessutom är Aerogeler sköra, och även låg deformering kan leda till att materialet går sönder, vilket begränsar deras användning.Detta arbete fokuserade på att använda grafenoxid, mycel eller cellulosa som organiska mallar för att skapa organiska/inorganiska hybrid-aerogeler genom kontrollerad silankondensation. Användning av grafenoxid (GO) visade att både APTES och TEOS kunde bilda jämna, släta silanlager på en organisk GO-mall. Det var också möjligt att ta bort GO-mallen utan att ändra det bildade kiseloxidmaterialet med hjälp av hög temperatur. Med liknande kondensationsförhållanden var det möjligt att bilda SiOx-beläggningar på bakteriella cellulosa-nanofibriller (bCNF). Valet av silan tillät kontroll över den bildade beläggningens morfologi, och den modifierade bCNF-dispersionen kunde frystorkas till aerogeler. För att ytterligare utforska den utvecklade beläggningsmetoden användes ett annat lovande isoleringsmaterial (mycel) som mall. Det visade sig möjligt att efterlikna mycelhyferna, vilket möjliggjorde framställning av kiseloxid-nanofibrer efter avlägsnande av mycelmallen.Slutligen utvecklades sol-gelbildade organiska/oinorganiska aerogeler genom att använda bCNF som en försegningsmatris, vilket möjliggjorde hög flexibilitet utan sprickbildning eller sönderfall även efter hög deformering. Aerogelerna var termiskt stabila, flexibla och kunde undvika kritisk punkt-torkning, vilket öppnar upp för storskalig produktion av aerogeler.

Graphene oxide (GO) was used in this study as a template to successfully synthesize silicon oxide (SiOx) based 2D-nanomaterials, adapting the same morphological features as the GO sheets. By performing a controlled condensation reaction using low concentrations of GO (<0.5 wt%), the study shows how to obtain 2D-nanoflakes, consisting of GO-flakes coated with a silica precursor that were ca. 500 nm in lateral diameter and ca. 1.5 nm in thickness. XPS revealed that the silanes had linked covalently with the GO sheets at the expense of the oxygen groups present on the GO surface. The GO template was shown to be fully removable through thermal treatment without affecting the nanoflake morphology of the pure SiOx-material, providing a methodology for large-scale preparation of SiOx-based 2D nanosheets with nearly identical dimensions as the GO template. The formation of SiOx sheets using a GO template was investigated for two different silane precursors, (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), showing that both precursors were capable of accurately templating the graphene oxide template. Molecular modeling revealed that the choice of silane affected the number of layers coated on the GO sheets. Furthermore, rheological measurements showed that the relative viscosity was significantly affected by the specific surface area of the synthesized particles. The protocol used showed the ability to synthesize these types of nanoparticles using a common aqueous alcohol solvent, and yield larger amounts (∼1 g) of SiOx-sheets than what has been previously reported.

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) were used in aqueous synthesis protocols for zinc oxide (ZnO) to affect the formation of the ZnO particles. Different concentrations of CNFs were evaluated in two different synthesis protocols producing distinctly different ZnO morphologies (flowers and sea urchins) as either dominantly oxygen-or zinc-terminated particles. The CNF effects on the ZnO formation were investigated by implementing a heat-treatment method at 400 degrees C that fully removed the cellulose material without affecting the ZnO particles made in the presence of CNFs. The inorganic phase formations were monitored by extracting samples during the enforced precipitations to observe changes in the ZnO morphologies. A decrease in the size of the ZnO particles could be observed for all synthesis protocols, already occurring at small additions of CNFs. At as low as 0.1 g/L CNFs, the particle size decreased by 50% for the flower-shaped particles and 45% for the sea-urchin-shaped particles. The formation of smaller particles was accompanied by increased yield by 13 and 15% due to the CNFs' ability to enhance the nucleation, resulting in greater mass of ZnO divided among a larger number of particles. The enhanced nucleation could also be verified as useful for preventing secondary morphologies from forming, which grew on the firstly precipitated particles. The suppression of secondary growths' was due to the more rapid inorganic phase formation during the early phases of the reactions and the faster consumption of dissolved salts, leaving smaller amounts of metal salts present at later stages of the reactions. The findings show that using cellulose to guide inorganic nanoparticle growth can be predicted as an emerging field in the preparation of functional inorganic micro/nanoparticles. The observations are highly relevant in any industrial setting for the large-scale and resource-efficient production of ZnO.