Biodegradable Polymer Nanosheets Incorporated with Zn-Containing Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications.

So far, poly(L-lactic acid), PLLA nanosheets proved to be promising for wound healing. Such biodegradable materials are easy to prepare, bio-friendly, cost-effective, simple to apply and were shown to protect burn wounds and facilitate their healing. At the same time, certain metal ions are known to be essential for wound healing, which is why this study was motivated by the idea of incorporating PLLA nanosheets with Zn ion containing nanoparticles.

Electrocoagulants Characteristics and Application of Electrocoagulation for Micropollutant Removal and Transformation Mechanism.

Predominantly, the removal of dissolved contaminates via the Fe electrocoagulation (EC) process depends on the electrocoagulants stability, specific area, porosity, dissolution rate, and phase transformation kinetics. The present investigation elucidates the role of applied currents and electrolyte counteranions on the crystalline phase and surface topography of electrocoagulants generated from Fe EC. Moreover, the dissolved contaminant micropollutant removal efficiency was also evaluated by electrochemically produced coagulants.

Molecular-Level Interactions between Engineered Materials and Cells.

Various recent experimental observations indicate that growing cells on engineered materials can alter their physiology, function, and fate. This finding suggests that better molecular-level understanding of the interactions between cells and materials may guide the design and construction of sophisticated artificial substrates, potentially enabling control of cells for use in various biomedical applications. In this review, we introduce recent research results that shed light on molecular events and mechanisms involved in the interactions between cells and materials.

Recent Advances in 2D Inorganic Nanomaterials for SERS Sensing.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy is a powerful and sensitive analytical tool that has found application in chemical and biomolecule analysis and environmental monitoring. Since its discovery in the early 1970s, a variety of materials ranging from noble metals to nanostructured materials have been employed as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates. In recent years, 2D inorganic materials have found wide use in the development of SERS-based chemical sensors owing to their unique thickness dependent physico-chemical properties with enhanced chemical-based charge-transfer processes.

Monomer: Design of ZnO Nanostructures (Nanobush and Nanowire) and Their Room-Temperature Ethanol Vapor Sensing Signatures.

Ethanol serves as a biomarker as well as a chemical reagent for several applications and has been predominantly used as an alternative fuel (E10 and E85). Development of sensors for the detection and monitoring of ethanol vapor at lower operating temperatures has gathered momentum in the recent past. In this work, we reported the synthesis of self-assembled ZnO nanowires using electrospun technique without using any external surfactants or capping agents and their room temperature ethanol sensing properties.

Racetrack Effect on the Dissimilar Sensing Response of ZnO Thin Film-An Anisotropy of Isotropy.

The isotropic nature of the sensing elements decides the overall sensing performance of metal oxide gas/chemical sensors. Even a minimum deviation in the morphological and electrical characteristics of the sensing surface will lead to a nonuniform sensing performance, which in turn results in undesired figure of merits. With this background, the inhomogeneity of plasma discharge due to the racetrack effect of the magnetic field orbit in the planar magnetron and its significant influence on the formation of nanostructured ZnO thin films with desired uniformity has been investigated.

Substrate Temperature Effects on Room Temperature Sensing Properties of Nanostructured ZnO Thin Films.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates using chemical spray pyrolysis technique at different substrate temperatures such as 523, 623 and 723 K. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the formation of polycrystalline films with hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure and revealed the change in preferential orientation of the crystal planes. Scanning electron micrographs showed the formation of uniformly distributed spherical shaped grains at low deposition temperature and pebbles like structure at the higher temperature.