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In this article, we prepared a conjoined-network hydrogel with acrylamide-modified chitosan, oxidized alginate and polyacrylamide. The oxidized alginate can not only crosslink with chitosan to form a hydrogel network but...

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This paper explores the structural and functional properties of collagen from tilapia scales pretreated by heat‐assisted ionic liquids (ILs). Results show that the solubility of collagen was significantly influenced by the type and concentration of ILs. With the increase of IL concentration, a remarkable decrease in solubility of collagen was seen. Fluorescence spectra show that heat and IL pretreatments induced the exposure of chromophores. Changes in sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that subunits of collagen regenerated from most of the IL solvent systems were not destroyed. The functional properties of regenerated collagen were evaluated by gel strength, viscosity, water‐binding capacity, and emulsifying capacity. Results show that all heat‐assisted ILs pretreatments improved the gel strength and viscosity, and the highest gel strength and viscosity were both obtained in the collagen pretreated by heat‐assisted [EMIM]Cl. Heat‐assisted [BMIM]BF4 pretreatment exhibited the lowest water‐binding capacity. Heat‐assisted [BDMIM]Cl pretreatment indicated superior effect on improving emulsifying capacity than other pretreatments due to its ability to break most of the hydrogen bonds in collagen molecules, resulting in the formation of new re‐aggregates with higher solubility and more hydrophobic groups.

It is crucial to synthesize α‐Al2O3, which is a multifunctional material, at high temperatures due to the nature of the material. However, this high‐temperature preparation process is not energy efficient, which goes against the global aim of carbon neutrality. In this study, we explored the effect of adding 1 wt.% (NaCl) as an additive and a suitable amount of Al(OH)3 in a ball mill to form a precursor. The impact of NaCl and ball milling duration on the phase transition from Al(OH)3 to α‐Al2O3 at low temperatures was investigated. After the conversion from Al(OH)3 to γ‐Al2O3, the NaCl particles on the surface of γ‐Al2O3 act as diffusion channels, helping to accelerate the substance diffusion during the transition from γ‐Al2O3 to α‐Al2O3, resulting in a lower formation temperature of α‐Al2O3, which is 700°C. Additionally, the presence of NaCl results in α‐Al2O3 particles growing into hexagonal plates. The α‐Al2O3 plates produced from calcining the mixture of Al(OH)3 and NaCl at 700°C have an average diameter of 3 µm, an average diameter/thickness ratio of 10 and a specific surface area of 12.0085 m2/g. These results indicate that low‐temperature synthesis of α‐Al2O3 powder is possible by using NaCl as an additive instead of molten salt in the ball milling process.