“…Moreover, the characteristic carbonyl peak of as-synthesized PAE-NC was shifted from 1,714 cm −1 to around 1,696-1,699 cm −1 after alkaline hydrolysis according to FTIR spectra shown in Figure 1C, which could be due to the alternation of intermolecular hydrogen bonding by hydrolysis treatment. Moreover, it should be noted that the vibration peak of the nitrile group at 2,230 cm −1 still presented even after hydrolysis for 8 h, implying that it was quite challenging to realize the complete transformation of nitriles by the heterogeneous alkaline treatment, and similar results were also reported by another group (Sun et al, 2022). Anyway, the hydrolysis leads to partial nitriles of PAE-NC transformation into carboxyl groups, which would provide additional reactive sites for postfunctionalization or further surface modification.…”