Biomimicking tendon by electrospinning tissue-derived decellularized extracellular matrix for tendon tissue engineering

Tendon injuries disturb the equilibrium between mobility and stability, resulting in impaired functions and disabilities. Clinically, it is still challenging to regenerate fully functional tendons. Here, by direct electrospinning, we fabricate goat tendon-derived extracellular matrix (tdECM) fibers using polycaprolactone (PCL) as a supporting polymer. We observe that the incorporation of tdECM particles strongly influences the characteristics of the scaffold, such as wettability, water uptake ability, and mechanical properties. The contact angle of the PCL/tdECM scaffold decreases to zero as compared to 122° for only PCL, making the scaffold completely hydrophilic. The water uptake ability increases by 200% by adding tdECM. The Physicochemical properties are evaluated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Electrospun fibers mimic the natural ECM structure, while tdECM can provide biochemical cues for the human mesenchymal stem cells to adhere to and differentiate. The scaffolds positively influence cell survival, proliferation, and alignment along the scaffolds of the human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUMSCs). This study demonstrates the potential of electrospun ECM/polymer as a bioactive scaffold for in situ tendon regeneration.     

MnCO3 Cuboids from Spent LIBs: A New Age Displacement Anode to Build High-Performance Li-Ion Capacitors

The advantage of hybridizing battery and supercapacitor electrodes has succeeded recently in designing hybrid charge storage systems such as lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) with the benefits of higher energy than supercapacitors and more power density than batteries. However, sluggish Li-ion diffusion of battery anode is one of the main barriers and hampers the development of high-performance LICs. Herein, is introduced a new conversion/displacement type anode, MnCO₃, via effectively recycling spent Li-ion batteries cathodes for LICs applications. The MnCO₃ cuboids are regenerated from the spent LiMn₂O₄ cathodes by organic acid lixiviation process, and hydrothermal treatment displays excellent reversibility of 535  mAh g⁻¹ after 50  cycles with a Coulombic efficiency of >99%. Later, LIC is assembled with the regenerated MnCO₃ cubes in pre-lithiated form (Mn⁰ + Li₂CO₃) as anode and commercial activated carbon (AC) as the cathode, delivering a maximum energy density of 169.4 Wh kg⁻¹ at 25 °C with ultra-long durability of 15,000 cycles. Even at various atmospheres like −5 and 50 °C, this LIC can offer a energy densities of 53.8 and 119.5 Wh kg⁻¹, respectively. Remarkably, the constructed AC/Mn⁰ + Li₂CO₃-based LIC exhibits a good cycling performance for a continuous 1000 cycles with >91% retention invariably for all temperature conditions.