An easy and economically viable route for the decoration of carbon nanotubes by magnetite nanoparticles, and their orientation in a magnetic field

peer reviewedA simple, cheap and tunable approach for the decoration of carbon nanotubes by magnetite nanoparticles and their orientation in a magnetic field is reported.Eurocores program, SON

Poly(ionic liquid)-derived N-doped carbons with hierarchical porosity for lithium and sodium ion batteries

The performance of lithium and sodium ion batteries relies notably on the accessibility to carbon electrodes of controllable porous structure and chemical composition. This work reports a facile synthesis of well-defined porous N-doped carbons (NPCs) using a poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) as precursor, and graphene oxide (GO)-stabilized poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanoparticles as sacrificial template. The GO-stabilized PMMA nanoparticles were first prepared and then decorated by a thin PIL coating before carbonization. The resulting NPCs reached a satisfactory specific surface area of up to 561 m2/g and a hierarchically meso- and macroporous structure while keeping a nitrogen content of 2.6 wt %. Such NPCs delivered a high reversible charge/discharge capacity of 1013 mA h/g over 200 cycles at 0.4 A/g for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), and showed a good capacity of 204 mA h/g over 100 cycles at 0.1 A/g for sodium ion batteries (SIBs).Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

3D-Printability of PPG-poly(hydroxyurethane) elastomers using thermal or UV curing processes

The abstract is provided as supporting informatio

Conversion of electrospun chitosan into chitin: a robust strategy to tune the properties of 2D biomimetic nanofiber scaffolds

New biomimetic micro- and nano-CsU-based fibrous scaffolds electrospun from solution containing high purity-medical grade chitosan (CsU) of fungus origin (CsU1, Mv ~174,000 and CsU2, 205,000, degree of deacetylation (DDA) ~65%) and polyethylene oxide (PEO, Mv ~ 900,000), in the presence of given amounts of Triton X-100 (from 0.01 to 0.5 wt%) as surfactant were fabricated. We demonstrate that by carefully selecting compositions and surfactant levels, porous mats with CsU content up to 90% (at this molecular weight and DDA) were achieved. Remarkable long-term stability in water or phosphate buffer solution storage were obtained by developing post-electrospinning treatment allowing the complete elimination of the PEO from the CsU-fibers as demonstrated by TGA, DSC and ESEM analysis. Subsequent reacetylation procedure was applied to convert 2D biomimetic chitosan mats to chitin (CsE)-based ones while preserving the nanofiber structure. This innovative procedure allows tuning and modifying the thermal, mechanical properties and more importantly the biodegradation abilities (fast enzymatic biodegradation in some cases and slower on the others) of the prepared nanofibrous mats. The established reproducible method offers the unique advantage to modulate the membrane properties leading to stable 2D biomimetic CsU and/or chitin (CsE) scaffolds tailor-made for specific purposes in the field of tissue engineering.Peer reviewe

Design, manufacturing and testing of a green non-isocyanate polyurethane prosthetic heart valve.

peer reviewedThe sole effective treatment for most patients with heart valve disease is valve replacement by implantation of mechanical or biological prostheses. However, mechanical valves represent high risk of thromboembolism, and biological prostheses are prone to early degeneration. In this work, we aim to determine the potential of novel environmentally-friendly non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) for manufacturing synthetic prosthetic heart valves. Polyhydroxyurethane (PHU) NIPUs are synthesized via an isocyanate-free route, tested in vitro, and used to produce aortic valves. PHU elastomers reinforced with a polyester mesh show mechanical properties similar to native valve leaflets. These NIPUs do not cause hemolysis. Interestingly, both platelet adhesion and contact activation-induced coagulation are strongly reduced on NIPU surfaces, indicating low thrombogenicity. Fibroblasts and endothelial cells maintain normal growth and shape after indirect contact with NIPUs. Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) allows modeling of the ideal valve design, with minimal shear stress on the leaflets. Injection-molded valves are tested in a pulse duplicator and show ISO-compliant hydrodynamic performance, comparable to clinically-used bioprostheses. Poly(tetrahydrofuran) (PTHF)-NIPU patches do not show any evidence of calcification over a period of 8 weeks. NIPUs are promising sustainable biomaterials for the manufacturing of improved prosthetic valves with low thrombogenicity

Synthesis and stabilization of colloids for optical and magnetic detections

The development of nano-sized particles is motivated by their optical, electronic and magnetic behavior related to quantum confinement resulting from the nanometric size. To prevent aggregation in solution, the nanoparticles are covered with stabilizing molecules. The aim of this thesis is to develop a new generation of functional copolymers with different architectures to improve the stability of various synthesized NPs. Two types of nanoparticles are considered, gold NPs for the optical properties and iron oxide NPs for the magnetic properties. The copolymers considered in this study are synthesized following a controlled radical polymerization process, i.e. Reversible Addition - Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) and confer novel properties to the coated nanoparticles. Stealth NPs are obtained when they are covered by the poly(ethylene oxide), and thermosensitive NPs when they are stabilized by the poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide). These properties have been exploited in applications in the biomedical field. Another challenge in this work is the synthesis and functionalization of the surface of carbon NPs, and thus carbon nano-capsules were synthesized by graphitization of poly (acrylic acid)-poly (acrylonitrile) micelles and carbon nanotubes have been decorated by magnetite NPs allowing their orientation in a magnetic field