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A series of castor oil based polyurethane/siloxane cross-linked films were prepared using castor oil, isophorone diisocyanate, and 3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane by the sol-gel process. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra reveal the cross-linking interaction between polyurethane and siloxane moieties, thereby shifting the peak position of characteristic N-H and C═O groups to higher wavenumber. (29)Si (silica) solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectra were used to prove the formation of siloxane network linkage in the polyurethane system, thereby analyzing the Si environment present in the polyurethane/siloxane cross-linked films. The activation energy values at two stages (Tmax1 and Tmax2) for the degradation of polyurethane films were increased with increasing silane ratio. The calculated activation energy values for the higher silane ratio (1.5) are 136 and 170 kJ/mol at Tmax1 and Tmax2, respectively. From contact angle measurements, we observed that increasing siloxane cross-linking increased the hydrophobicity of the films. The optical transmittance obtained from ultraviolet-visible spectra indicated that the film samples are transparent in the region 300-800 nm. The moisture sorption/desorption isotherm curve shows a characteristic behavior of type III isotherm corresponds to hydrophobic materials. Dynamic mechanical studies show that the increase in storage modulus reveals siloxane cross-linking gives rigidity to the films. Atomic force microscopic images show that the introduction of siloxane changes the surface roughness of the polyurethane films. It is found that the siloxane cross-linking can be used to obtain hydrophobic surface films having good thermal stability and optical transmittance.

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The present investigation attempts at fabricating collagen-based scaffolds impregnated with sago starch capped silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), useful for biomedical applications, and aims at studying their physicochemical aspects. AgNPs synthesized through a chemical reduction method, capped using different concentrations of sago starch, are incorporated into collagen derived from fish scales, and lyophilized to form scaffolds. FT-IR spectra confirm and validate the interaction of sago starch capped AgNPs with collagen in the scaffolds. TGA and DSC results indicate enhanced thermal stability of collagen scaffolds impregnated with sago capped AgNPs compared to collagen alone. All the collagen scaffolds containing sago starch capped AgNPs show high tensile strength values for their use as wound dressing materials. Moreover, lower minimum inhibitory concentration values are obtained for the above capped AgNP collagen scaffolds, which indicate higher antibacterial activities compared to uncapped AgNPs tested against both gram positive and negative bacterial strains. The novelty is that the developed scaffolds are biodegradable and in vitro studies reveal them as biocompatible and suitable for tissue regeneration applications.

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