Polymer Nanocomposites for Advanced Automobile Applications

The automotive industry is one major sector that consume material such as plastic at the advanced technological level. Hence, automotive plastics are now gaining attention due to the desire for light weight and low CO2 emission from vehicles. It is therefore anticipated that polymer nanocomposites will significantly enhance the performance of current technologies for car industries due to their excellent mechanical, chemical, thermal, electrical and barrier properties and their influence on fire retardancy. Hence, with the use of polymer nanocomposites, the encouraging outcomes in different sectors of automotive industry has resulted to new horizons in terms of advanced polymer nanocomposites for automobile applications. This chapter reviews advance polymer composites for automobile applications. Methods of fabricating polymer nanocomposites and several applications of polymer nanocomposites in automotive industries are discussed

Rotavirus capsid surface protein VP4-coated Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles as a theranostic platform for cellular imaging and drug delivery.

<p>The development of a theranostic nanoplatform based on rotavirus structural protein VP4-coated Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles (NPs) for dual modality magnetic resonance/fluorescence cellular imaging and drug delivery is reported. VP4 protein was obtained from Escherichia coli approach, and then chemically conjugated to Fe(3)O(4) NPs premodified with meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinnic acid (DMSA) in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC). Next, the VP4-coated Fe(3)O(4) NPs were loaded with doxorubicin (DOX), a typical anticancer drug, via formation of amide bond through the EDC approach. Prussian blue staining analysis reveals that the VP4-coated Fe(3)O(4) NPs can be internalized efficiently by MA104 and HepG2 cells, thereby significantly improving cellular MRI sensitivity, compared with dextran- and BSA-coated Fe(3)O(4) NPs. In addition, DOX loaded on the VP4-coated Fe(3)O(4) NPs exhibits significant cytotoxicity to the cancer cells (HepG2). The current work provides a general approach toward the rational design and synthesis of a versatile theranostic nanoplatform based on functional protein-coated magnetic NPs with good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and capability of simultaneously performing multimodality imaging and therapy for optimal clinical outcomes.</p