Improving the 3D Printability and Mechanical Performance of Biorenewable Soybean Oil-Based Photocurable Resins.

The general requirement of replacing petroleum-derived plastics with renewable resources is particularly challenging for new technologies such as the additive manufacturing of photocurable resins. In this work, the influence of mono- and bifunctional reactive diluents on the printability and performance of resins based on acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) was explored. Polyethylene glycol di(meth)acrylates of different molecular weights were selected as diluents based on the viscosity and mechanical properties of their binary mixtures with AESO.

Lignin as a High-Value Bioaditive in 3D-DLP Printable Acrylic Resins and Polyaniline Conductive Composite.

With increasing environmental awareness, lignin will play a key role in the transition from the traditional materials industry towards sustainability and Industry 4.0, boosting the development of functional eco-friendly composites for future electronic devices. In this work, a detailed study of the effect of unmodified lignin on 3D printed light-curable acrylic composites was performed up to 4 wt.

MALDI-TOF to compare polysaccharide profiles from commercial health supplements of different mushroom species.

In this work MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy was investigated to characterise the β-glucan profiles of several commercial health supplements, without any derivatisation or purification pre-treatment. The effect of two solvents (water and dimethyl sulfoxide) and two MALDI matrices (2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid and 2',4',6'-trihydroxyacetophenone) was first evaluated on dextran standards. MALDI-TOF was found as a useful and quick technique to obtain structural information of diverse food supplements based on mushroom extracts.

Preparation, evaluation and characterization of quercetin-molecularly imprinted polymer for preconcentration and clean-up of catechins.

Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for solid extraction and preconcentration of catechins have been successfully prepared by a thermal polymerization method using quercetin as template, 4-vinylpyridine as functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker. A solution mixture of acetone and acetonitrile was used as porogen. Systematic investigations of the influence of monomer, cross-linker, porogen, as well as polymerization conditions on the properties of the MIPs were carried out.