View the article online for updates and enhancements.

The development of graphene-based materials for optical limiting functionality is an active field of research. Optical limiting for femtosecond laser pulses in the infrared-B (IR-B) (1.4–3 μm) spectral domain has been investigated to a lesser extent than that for nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses at wavelengths up to 1.1 μm. Novel nonlinear optical materials, glassy graphene oxide (GO)-based silico-phosphate composites, were prepared, for the first time to our knowledge, by a convenient and low cost sol-gel method, as described in the paper, using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), H3PO4 and GO/reduced GO (rGO) as precursors. The characterisation of the GO/rGO silico-phosphate composite films was performed by spectroscopy (Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), Ultraviolet–Visible-Near Infrared (UV-VIS-NIR) and Raman) and microscopy (atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM)) techniques. H3PO4 was found to reduce the rGO dispersed in the precursor’s solution with the formation of vertically agglomerated rGO sheets, uniformly distributed on the substrate surface. The capability of these novel graphene oxide-based materials for the optical limiting of femtosecond laser pulses at 1550 nm wavelength was demonstrated by intensity-scan experiments. The GO or rGO presence in the film, their concentrations, the composite films glassy matrix, and the film substrate influence the optical limiting performance of these novel materials and are discussed accordingly.

No abstract

Three-dimensional printing has significant potential as a fabrication method for synthetic scaffolds for regenerative medicine. The advantages of fabricating scaffolds using 3D printing are numerous, including the ability to create complex geometries and porosities that mimic the anatomical structures of organs and tissues. Three-dimensional printing can be used to create orbital implants, which replace the bony cavity surrounding the eye after eye removal. In the present article, an original 3D printing method is developed for the production of three-dimensional structures based on hydroxyapatite and polyurethane diol, which can be further used for the fabrication of orbital implants with interconnected porosity. For this purpose, hybrid nanostructured powders were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and further used as raw materials for 3D printing of porous structures. Innovative porous 3D structures were tested in vitro and in vivo. The test results showed the vascularization capacity of the 3D implant and remodeling of the tissue.

No abstract