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In this paper, we present a green, low‐cost carbon material derived from waste biomass (hazelnut shell (HS) and olive residue (OR)) to fabricate a binary TiO2/carbon composite for improving the photocatalytic performance of TiO2 under visible light. The synthesis, characterization, and photocatalytic applications of the TiO2/carbon composite were performed. Hydrothermal carbonization was used to obtain the carbon support materials. A series of TiO2/carbon composite materials from waste biomass based on hydrochar, fullerene, and carbon nanotubes has been prepared for comparison purposes. Photocatalytic performances of all composites were measured by comparing methylene blue (MB) removal rates. The results show that waste biomass based hydrochar/TiO2 composites possessed superior visible‐light photocatalytic activity compared with high technology carbons/TiO2 composites such as fullerene and carbon nanotubes. The enhanced photodegradation capacity could be ascribed to the delocalized furanic conjugated system and functional groups of HS‐TiO2 and OR‐TiO2 composites.

Skeletal muscle is an electrically and mechanically active tissue that contains highly oriented, densely packed myofibrils. The tissue has self-regeneration capacity upon injury, which is limited in the cases of volumetric muscle loss. Several regenerative therapies have been developed in order to enhance this capacity, as well as to structurally and mechanically support the defect site during regeneration. Among them, biomimetic approaches that recapitulate the native microenvironment of the tissue in terms of parallel-aligned structure and biophysical signals were shown to be effective. In this study, we have developed 3D printed aligned and electrically active scaffolds in which the electrical conductivity was provided by carbonaceous material (CM) derived from algae-based biomass. The synthesis of this conductive and functional CM consisted of eco-friendly synthesis procedure such as pre-carbonization and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) catalysis. CM obtained from biomass via hydrothermal carbonization (CM-03) and its ash form (CM-03K) were doped within poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) matrix and 3D printed to form scaffolds with aligned fibers for structural biomimicry. Scaffolds were seeded with C2C12 mouse myoblasts and subjected to electrical stimulation during the in vitro culture. Enhanced myotube formation was observed in electroactive groups compared to their non-conductive counterparts and it was observed that myotube formation and myotube maturity were significantly increased for CM-03 group after electrical stimulation. The results have therefore showed that the CM obtained from macroalgae biomass is a promising novel source for the production of the electrically conductive scaffolds for skeletal muscle tissue engineering.

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