No abstract

No abstract

Pictorial diagram of multi-responsive hydrogels for controlled drug release system.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

• Doping of FSP in polymer matrix membrane; involving dissolution casting methodology • FSP is used as an additive to inflate salt rejection properties.• Mechanical properties augmented for PMCM • Uniform dispersion of FSP on PMCM posing dense structure observed in SEM micrographs a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Novel polymer matrix composite membranes of cellulose acetate (CA)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) doped with 10-30 wt.% fumed silica particles (FSP) were synthesized. The dissolution casting methodology was used to construct reverse osmosis (RO) membrane which accounts the explicit application for desalination process. The interactions between polymer chains and doped FSP were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Differential scanning calorimetry thermograms support the physical nature of polymer matrix composite membranes (PMCMs) and an improved glass transition temperature (T g ) from 78.3 to 92.4°C was observed. The thermal stability of the composite membranes significantly enhanced with the addition of FSP. The typical morphology of PMCM was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The 30 wt.% of FSP filled PMCM showed substantial improvement in tensile strength (8.2 MPa) and Young's modulus (854.0 MPa) as compared to the PMCM without FSP. The percentage water content (WC) of the membrane doped with 30 wt.% FSP absorbed more water as compared to the other membranes. It was also noticed that the FSP doped PMCM enhanced the desalination process which was monitored in terms of permeation flux (L/m 2 ·h) and salt rejection (%). The optimum performance of desalination process was shown by 30 wt.% FSP doped PMCM; the permeation flux was 0.66 L/m 2 ·h and salt rejection was 98.4% for the initial feed of 0.35 wt.% NaCl aqueous solution at 25°C and operating pressure of 4.0 bar (osmotic pressure 2.9 bar).

Hydrogel-based drug delivery systems can leverage therapeutically favorable upshots of drug release and found clinical uses. Hydrogels offer temporal and spatial control over the release of different therapeutic agents. Because of their tailor made controllable degradability, physical properties, and ability to prevent the labile drugs from degradation, hydrogels provide platform on which diverse physicochemical interactions with entrapped drugs cause to control drug release. Herein, we report the fabrication of novel vinyltrimethoxy silane (VTMS) cross-linked chitosan/polyvinyl pyrrolidone hydrogels. Swelling in distilled water in conjunction with different buffer and electrolyte solutions was performed to assess the swellability of hydrogels.Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were further conducted to investigate the possible interactions between components, thermal stability, and crystallinity of asprepared hybrid hydrogels, respectively. In vitro time-dependent biodegradability, antimicrobial study, and cytotoxicity were also carried out to evaluate their extensive biocompatibility and cytotoxic behavior. More interestingly, in vitro drug release study allowed for the controlled release of cephradine. Therefore, this facile strategy developed the novel biocompatible and biodegradable hybrid hydrogels, which could significantly expand the scope of these hydrogels in other biomedical applications like scaffolds, skin regeneration, tissue engineering, etc.