title: Electroresponsive Supramolecular Graphene Oxide Hydrogels for Active Bacteria Adsorption and Removal.
abstract: Bacteria contamination in drinking water and medical products can cause severe health problems. However, currently available sterilization methods, mainly based on the size-exclusion mechanism, are typically slow and require the entire contaminated water to pass through the filter. Here, we present an electroresponsive hydrogel based approach for bacteria adsorption and removal. We successfully engineered a series of graphene oxide hydrogels using redox-active ruthenium complexes as noncovalent cross-linkers. The resulting hydrogels can reversibly switch their physical properties in response to the applied electric field along with the changes of oxidation states of the ruthenium ions. The hydrogels display strong bacteria adsorbing capability. A hydrogel of 1 cm(3) can adsorb a maximum of 1 × 10(8) E. coli. The adsorbed bacteria in the hydrogels can then be inactivated by a high voltage electric pulse and removed from the hydrogels subsequently. Owing to the high bacteria removal rate, reusability, and low production cost, these hydrogels represent promising candidates for the emergent sterilization of medical products or large-scale purification of drinking water.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University , 321 Zhong Shan North Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Dongjun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Engineering Technology Research Centre of Environmental Cleaning Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, Jiangsu Joint Laboratory of Atmospheric Pollution Control, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology , 219 Ningliu Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210044, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006108:Graphite; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D010087:Oxides; D006108:Graphite
keywords: bacteria adsorption; electroresponsive; graphene oxide; supramolecular hydrogel; water sterilization