Mesoporous materials with high specific surface, pores volume and unique pore size were recently intensively studied as bio-materials, such as carriers for controlled bio-active principles delivery. Mesoporous silica materials exhibit greater capacity for drugs loading and insure a controlled bio-active compound release if they are functionalized, in comparison with amorphous colloidal silica. Mesoporous silica nanomaterials have lately earned increasing interest also due to their substantial capability to be used in tumors treatment and imaging. Recently, functionalized mesoporous silica materials known a rapid development in imagistic and curative applications. This review summarizes the recent advancement in the obtaining and biological properties of mesoporous silica nanomaterials, emphasizing the synthesis methods and drug delivery application. Commonly used synthetic strategies are discussed, followed by a systematic review of applicability in optical and MRI imaging.
The development of membrane technology for gas separation processes evolved with the fabrication of so-called mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) as an alternative to neat polymers, in order to improve the overall membrane effectiveness. Once the mixed matrix membranes are used, the gas separation properties of the porous materials used as fillers are combined with the economical processability and desirable mechanical properties of polymer matrix. Mixed mesoporous silica/polymer membranes with high CO
2
and O
2
permeability and selectivity were designed and prepared by incorporating MCM-41 particles into a polymer matrix. Ordered mesoporous silica MCM-41 with high surface confirmed by BET analysis were obtained and functionalized with amino groups. In order to obtain the mixed membranes, the mesoporous silica was embedded into the polysulfone matrix (PSF). Flat mixed matrix membranes with 5, 10, and 20 wt% MCM-41 and MCM-41-NH
2
loadings have been prepared via the polymer solution casting method. The phase's interactions were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetry (TGA), while the gas separation performances were evaluated using pure gases (CO
2
, O
2
, N
2
). The MCM-41/PSF and MCM-41-NH
2
/PSF membranes exhibited increased permeabilities for O
2
(between 1.2 and 1.7 Barrer) and CO
2
(between 4.2 and 8.1 Barrer) compared to the neat membrane (0.8 Barrer). The loss of selectivity for the O
2
/N
2
(between 6 and 8%) and CO
2
/N
2
(between 25 and 41%) gas pairs was not significant compared with the pure membrane (8 and 39%, respectively). The MCM-41/PSF membranes were more selective for CO
2
/N
2
than the O
2
/N
2
pair, due to the size difference between CO
2
and N
2
molecules and to the condensability of CO
2
, leading to an increase of solubility. Stronger interactions have been noticed for MCM-41-NH
2
/PSF membranes due to the amino groups, with the selectivity increasing for both gas pairs compared with the MCM-41/PSF membranes.
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