Synthesis And Characterization Of Polyaniline/Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Based Nanocomposites

Polyaniline/multiwalled carbon nanotubes-manganese dioxide (PANI/MWCNTs-MnO2) nanocomposites were synthesized and characterized. MnO2 filling in the cavities of the MWCNTs were successfully done with clean outer surface as seen by transmission electron microscope (TEM). Ammonium persulphate ((NH4)2S2O8) oxidant proved to be desirable for the formation of PANI for the nanocomposite. The electrical conductivity of the polymerized PANI was at 38.34 Scm-1 with a fiber-like structure as observed by TEM. New para-hydroxybezene sulfonic acid (PHBSA) doped ex-situ nanocomposites exhibit improved electrical conductivity and interfacial interaction compared to the pristine ex-situ nanocomposite without PHBSA. TEM demonstrated clearly the improved bonding at the interface with electrical conductivity up to 39.26 Scm-1. New PANI/MWCNTs- MnO2 nanocomposites were developed by in-situ method. The MnO2 filling showed enhanced and desirable effect on the nanocomposite. Structural and thermal studies showed that the interaction between PANI and MWCNTs was more favorable with the addition of MnO2. The formation of PANI was more uniform and thin on the surface of MWCNTs-MnO2 with higher electrical conductivity compared to the unfilled nanocomposite. The PANI/MWCNTs-MnO2 nanocomposites at different loading showed that the electrical conductivity increasing amount of MWCNTs- MnO2

Polysaccharides as Composite Biomaterials

Polysaccharide‐based composite materials have been the recent research focus in the field of material science and engineering because of their biocompatibility, renewability, and sustainability. In this chapter, the authors attempt to review and discuss recent works in developing polysaccharide‐based composites in applications of tissue engineering, drug delivery, and biopolymer‐based film packaging. This chapter focuses on carrageenan, alginate, chitosan, starch, and cellulose composites. Introduction on these types of polysaccharides used as biomaterials is briefly discussed

Cassava leaves as packaging materials

New packaging materials made from cassava leaves (CLs) were successfully prepared having desirable sheet properties. The CLs were treated with various concentrations of NaOH solution (mercerization), prior to the sheet making process. Several characterization methods were applied to elucidate the performance of the mercerized CLs. The results show that the tear index of 15% mercerized CLs is comparable to that of available paper or plastic sheets.having low moisture uptake, good wetting time, smooth sheet formation and non-toxicity. It is expected that the use of CLs as packaging material could reduce the dependency on paper and plastic based packagin

Fabrication of dual layer polyvinyl alcohol transdermal patch: effect of freezing-thawing cycles on morphological and swelling ability

The transdermal patch is polymeric-based patches containing a dispersed bioactive ingredient that deliver therapeutic agents at a constant rate through the human skin surface. In this study, the dual layer PVA patch was prepared using a combination of freezing-thawing (F-T) and electrospinning techniques to study the effect of F-T cycles on morphology structure and swelling ratio of the fabricated patch. The effect of F-T cycles on swelling ability as well as the morphological study of the patch was employed and characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and immersion of dual layer PVA patch for 24 hours in distilled water was calculated. Morphological structure of dual layer PVA patch has proved the correlation between the PVA cryogel and PVA electrospun nanofiber membrane. The results revealed that the dual layer PVA patch was successfully fabricated as the under layer PVA electrospun nanofiber membrane does not fully dissolve throughout the F-T process. Furthermore, in this study, it is shown that increasing of F-T cycles has decreased the swelling ability of the dual layer PVA patch. It also found that the presence of PVA electrospun nanofiber has also affected the swelling ability of the dual layer PVA patch due to the high surface ratio of the electrospun nanofiber membrane. The highest percentage of swelling ratio was found approaching 66% for dual layer PVA with 3 cycles (2L-3C), as for dual layer PVA with 5 cycles (2L-5C) the percentage found significantly lower (33%). The improvement of dual layer PVA patch can be utilized for drug release assessment and also could be good potential for transdermal drug delivery

A review on medicinal properties of saffron toward major diseases

The stigma of Crocus sativus, known as saffron, is one of the most expensive spices in the world. The bioactive components in saffron, picrocrocin, crocin, and safranal, have demonstrated a wide range of uses and capabilities in the medical field. This review is focused on the potential therapeutic applications of saffron on diabetes mellitus (DM), antitumor, anticancer, anti-depressant, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), cardiovascular disease (CVD), erectile dysfunction and antibacterial effects

Electrospun sodium alginate/poly(ethylene oxide) nanofibers for wound healing applications: Challenges and future directions

Alginate is an interesting natural biopolymer to be considered for biomedical applications due to its advantages and good biological properties. These biological properties make electrospun alginate nanofibers suitable for various uses in the biomedical field, such as wound healing dressings, drug delivery systems, or both. Unfortunately, the fabrication of alginate nanofibers by electrospinning is very challenging because of the high viscosity of the solution, high surface tension and rigidity in water due to hydrogen bonding, and also their diaxial linkages. This review presents an overview of the factors affecting the electrospinning process of sodium alginate/poly(ethylene oxide) (SA/PEO), the application of SA/PEO in drug delivery systems for wound healing applications, and the degradation and swelling properties of SA/PEO. The challenges and future directions of SA/PEO in the medical field are also discussed

SURFACE ENTRAPMENT OF COLLAGEN ON SINGLE LAYER POLYLACTIC ACID FILM CONTAINING SUSTAINABLE DRUG DELIVERY PROPERTIES FOR CORNEAL TISSUE ENGINEERING APPLICATION

Tissue engineering is a promising tool in repairing and treating corneal disease by developing new functionalized biological constructs using tissue scaffold. In this study, the inert surface of the polylactic acid (PLA) film was modified by using surface adsorption of collagen at different concentrations. The films were characterized for their tensile, swelling, water contact angle, in-vitro degradation, and light transmittance. Based on the mechanical and physical evaluations, the film was suggested to be optimum at 5wt% of collagen entrapment on the neat PLA film. Topographic analysis of the modified PLA film revealed that the inclusion of collagen induced a rougher surface, which is suitable for drug loading, biomolecule entrapment, and cell attachment. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) confirmed the attachment of the collagen molecule at the PLA backbone by the presence of amino group's spectra. Additionally, drug release studies showed that the PLA/5%Col film has a controllable release profile and followed Fickian's diffusion kinetics release. In-vitro cytotoxicity studied using MTT assay revealed good biocompatibility of the human fibroblast cell (HSF1189), resulting in 93±0.13% cell viability after 48 hours of incubation. This new modified corneal film material could reduce the dependency on the corneal donor for corneal transplants in the future

A Brief Review on Prospective of Polyvinylidene Fluoride as a Tissue Engineered Scaffold Material

: This review focuses on the potential of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as tissue scaffolding materials. PVDF is defined in terms of the synthesis mechanisms and the method of the β phase formation process. General properties are fundamentally discussed in terms of their wettability and electroactive characteristics, which play an important role in the modification of other potential materials for tissue-based applications. The latest technologies for the replacement of artificial tissue scaffolds are evaluated and the applications of PVDF-based scaffolds are discussed

Study on morphological properties of polyvinyl alcohol/poly(lactic acid) wound dressing membrane as drug delivery carrier in wound healing treatment

Wound dressing have experienced continuous improvement and changes since ancient time. Electrospinning of polymeric nanofibers have captured the interest of researchers due to its simplicity and cost effective technique that able to produce wound dressing membrane that meet the requirement as ideal wound dressing and drug delivery carrier. In this work, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and poly (lactic acid) (PLA) were chosen polymer to produce wound dressing membrane through electrospinning and coating method. PVA was electrospun and then coated with PLA. Preliminary study had been conducted between 1, 4 and 8% concentration for the selection of optimum PLA coating concentration. PLA has been proposed for the use of coating materials at 4%, the coated nanofiber membrane started to exhibit high Ultimate Tensile Strength at 1022.5 ± 9.28 MPa, highest degree of swelling (1850 ± 3.7 %) and optimum water contact angle (60.9 ± 11.46 ̊). The aim of this study was to investigate the morphological properties of PVA/PLA wound dressing membrane. Based on the results from Atomic Force Microscope, PVA nanofiber coated with 4% PLA exhibit the highest value of Rq which is 0.47 ± 0.19 μm compared to neat PVA nanofibers membrane. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) image revealed that PVA nanofiber coated with 4% PLA shows porous fiber-like morphology and well incorporated with each other without any gap formed between them. This report clearly suggestive of the fact that synthetic biodegradable polymers such as PLA can be exploited for the synergistic combination with PVA nanofiber for wound dressing application

Electrodeposited NiX2 (X= S, Se) thin films for solar cell applications

Thin films of nickel chalcogenide, NiX2 (X= S, Se) have been electrosynthesized on indiumtin-oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates. The films were characterized for their structural, morphological and compositional characteristics. Their optical and semiconducting parameters were also analysed in order to determine the suitability of the thin films for photoelectrochemical (PEC) / solar cell applications. Structural analysis via X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that the films are polycrystalline in nature. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies reveals that the films were adherent to the substrate with uniform and pin-hole free. Compositional analysis via energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) technique confirms the presence of Ni, S, and Se elements in the films. The optical studies show that the films are of direct bandgap. Results on the semiconductor parameters analysis of the films showed that the nature of the Mott-Schottky plots indicates that the films obtained are of p-type material