Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterized by bone loss and bone microarchitectural deterioration. The combination of smart materials and stem cells represents a new therapeutic approach. In the present study, highly porous scaffolds are prepared by combining the conducting polymer PEDOT:PSS with collagen type I, the most abundant protein in bone. The inclusion of collagen proves to be an effective way to modulate their mechanical properties and it induces an increase in scaffolds’ electrochemical impedance. The biomimetic scaffolds support neural crest-derived stem cell osteogenic differentiation, with no need for scaffold pre-conditioning contrarily to other reports.

Sinnerite (Cu6As4S9) is a semiconductor computed to have attractive optoelectronic properties, but little attention has been paid to its experimental synthesis and characterization. Here, the authors report the first synthesis of polycrystalline sinnerite thin films. By heating Cu3AsS4 nanoparticles in sealed ampoules with As2S2 powder, a phase transformation to Cu6As4S9 is achieved along with the formation of micron-sized dense grains appropriate for device applications. The films display a bandgap of ~1.2 eV, significant photocurrent generation under simulated AM1.5 illumination, and carrier lifetimes nearing 1 ns, demonstrating the promise of sinnerite for use in photovoltaic applications.

The narrow bandgap of Ag2S quantum dots was used to decorate TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2 NTAs) by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method to enhance its photoelectrochemical performance. The micromorphology of the photoanode films prepared by the SILAR under different parameters (including different cycle times, capillary spot sample, and ultrasound-assisted) was systematically analyzed. The photoanode film Ag2S/TiO2 prepared by the SILAR under the ultrasound-assisted method shows Ag2S evenly distributed in TiO2 NTAs. At the same time, the corresponding photoabsorption range has been extended to the visible area, while the photocurrent density and photoconversion efficiency have been increased to ~1.8 mA/cm2 and 0.6%, respectively.