Colloids and Interfaces

Herein, a cobalt–molybdenum bimetallic oxide precursor was synthesized via a hydrothermal route, followed by a phosphidation strategy in a tube furnace to produce a CoMoP cocatalyst. Subsequently, a CoMoP/BiVO₄ composite photoanode was successfully constructed by loading the CoMoP cocatalyst onto the surface of an electrodeposited BiVO₄ film using a drop-casting method. A suite of analytical tools such as TEM, XRD, and XPS was utilized to comprehensively examine the material morphology and crystalline features, verifying that CoMoP was effectively anchored on the BiVO₄ surface with intimate interfacial contact. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance testing indicated that the composite photoanode achieved optimal performance with a 200 µL loading of the CoMoP dispersion (2 mg/mL). Under front-side illumination, the photocurrent density of the CoMoP/BiVO₄ composite photoelectrode reached a photocurrent density of 2.8 mA/cm² at 1.23 V (vs. RHE), which is approximately 3.1 times higher than that of unmodified BiVO₄ (0.9 mA/cm²). Under back-side illumination, the composite photoanode generated 3.5 mA/cm², representing a 2.3-fold improvement over the 1.5 mA/cm² recorded for bare BiVO₄. The bandgap energy of BiVO₄ was determined to be approximately 2.44 eV based on UV–vis absorption spectra and the corresponding Tauc plot. Owing to its metallic nature, CoMoP exhibits strong broadband absorption in the visible-light region and does not display an intrinsic semiconductor bandgap behavior. Combined with photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and PEC results, it was demonstrated that the CoMoP loading effectively promoted interfacial charge separation and transport while accelerating water oxidation kinetics. These results demonstrate that the CoMoP/BiVO₄ system serves as an advanced semiconductor material with excellent performance for photoelectrocatalytic water splitting.

This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of pulsed-current iontophoresis (IP) for the transdermal delivery of teriparatide, a therapeutic peptide for osteoporosis. Female rats were subjected to in vivo iontophoretic administration under constant or pulsed-current conditions. Serum teriparatide concentrations, skin irritation scores, and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) were assessed. After 2 h of IP, serum teriparatide concentrations reached 53.3 ± 4.0 pg/mL with pulsed current and 48.8 ± 12.6 pg/mL with constant current, confirming successful transdermal absorption of teriparatide (≈4 kDa) into systemic circulation. Skin irritation was significantly reduced under pulsed-current conditions, as indicated by lower erythema, edema, and TEWL values, despite identical total current exposure. These results suggest that intermittent current application during pulsed-current IP alleviates local electrical stress through partial depolarization and may provide a delivery efficiency comparable to that of constant direct current IP while improving tolerability. Overall, pulsed-current IP enables noninvasive and effective systemic delivery of peptide drugs with minimized skin irritation, representing a promising alternative to injection-based administration for macromolecular therapeutics.

This study investigated heat-induced protein aggregation in skim camel milk by monitoring changes in the volume-weighted mean particle size (d_4,3) during isothermal heating (60–90 °C, up to 60 min, four temperature levels and 25 time–temperature conditions). Pronounced increases in d_4,3 with both time and temperature confirmed significant thermal aggregation. The reaction kinetics were described using a generalized exponential growth model, which fitted well at intermediate temperatures (e.g., coefficient of determination (R²) = 0.901 at 70 °C and 0.959 at 80 °C) but deviated at the lower (60 °C) and upper (90 °C) extremes, reflecting more complex behavior. Arrhenius analysis of the rate constant yielded an activation energy of 50.61 kJ mol⁻¹, lower than values typically reported for bovine milk systems, indicating that camel milk proteins require less thermal input to aggregate. In parallel, a machine learning model implemented as an artificial neural network (ANN) predicted d_4,3 from time-temperature inputs with high accuracy (R² > 0.97 across training, validation, and testing), capturing nonlinear patterns without mechanistic assumptions. Together, the kinetic and ANN approaches provide complementary insights into the heat sensitivity of camel milk proteins and offer predictive tools to support the optimization of thermal processing, formulation, and quality control in dairy applications.