Front Bioeng Biotechnol
October 2020
Skeletal defects resulting from trauma and disease represent a major clinical problem worldwide exacerbated further by global population growth and an increasing number of elderly people. As treatment options are limited, bone tissue engineering opens the doors to start an infinite amount of tissue/bone biomaterials having excellent therapeutic potential for the management of clinical cases characterized by severe bone loss. Bone engineering relies on the use of compliant biomaterial scaffolds, osteocompetent cells, and biologically active agents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDetection of defects, damages and cracks in structural polymers is very difficult, and even if they are detected, they will be very hard to be repaired. This is because different kinds of stress can reduce the mechanical efficiency of structural and functional thermosetting composite materials and they can damage the polymer matrix, thus reducing the purposed properties. General healing processes use thermal energy "alone" to heal these materials, thus impairing the intended properties of the materials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe reaction of condensation and cross-linking of desulfurized kraft lignin with triethyl phosphate (TEP) was explored. Catechol, a simple model of the aromatic ring of lignin, and glycerol, a model compound of the aliphatic hydroyl groups of the side chain of lignin, were employed under similar reaction conditions. Solid state cross-polarisation/magic-angle spinning (CP-MAS) C NMR and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) spectroscopy studies showed that polycondensation occurs on phenolic hydroxyl groups of lignin, as well as on aliphatic hydroxyls groups of its side chain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe advantages of photo polymerization methods compared to thermal techniques are: rapid cure reactions, low energy demands, solvent free requirements and room temperature use. In order to form a macromer, polycaprolactone (PCL) was cross-linked via ultraviolet power with 2-isocyanatoethyl methacrylate. Different methods of characterization were carried out: estimation of swelling capacity, adhesive capacity (using aminated substrates), surface energy (by contact angle), and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNano-composite films have been the subject of extensive work for developing the energy-storage efficiency of electrostatic capacitors. Factors such as polymer purity, nanoparticle size, and film morphology drastically affect the electrostatic efficiency of the dielectric material that forms the insulating film between the conductive electrodes of a capacitor. This in turn affects the energy storage performance of the capacitor.
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