Environmental concerns on water-soluble and biodegradable plastics and their applications - A review.

Water-soluble polymers are materials rapidly growing in volume and in number of materials and applications. Examples include synthetic plastics such as polyacrylamide, polyacrylic acid, polyethylene glycol, polyethylene oxide and polyvinyl alcohol, with applications ranging from cosmetics and paints to water purification, pharmaceutics and food packaging. Despite their abundance, their environmental concerns (e.

Spatiotemporal Retention of Structural Color and Induced Stiffening in Crosslinked Hydroxypropyl Cellulose Beads.

Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) is known for its ability to form cholesteric liquid crystalline phases displaying vivid structural colors. However, these vibrant colors tend to fade over time when the material dries. This issue is a major bottleneck to finding practical applications for these materials.

A biobased binder of carboxymethyl cellulose, citric acid, chitosan and wheat gluten for nonwoven and paper.

The amount of disposable nonwovens used today for different purposes have an impact on the plastic waste streams which is built up from several single-use products. A particular problem comes from nonwoven products with "hidden" plastic (such as cellulose mixed with synthetic fibers and/or plastic binders) where the consumers cannot see or expect plastic. We have here developed a sustainable binder based on natural components; wheat gluten (WG) and a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) made from chitosan, carboxymethyl cellulose and citric acid which can be used with cellulosic fibers, creating a fully biobased nonwoven product.

Cellulose Nanofiber-Coated Perfluoropentane Droplets: Fabrication and Biocompatibility Study.

Purpose: To study the effect of cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-shelled perfluoropentane (PFP) droplets on the cell viability of 4T1 breast cancer cells with or without the addition of non-encapsulated paclitaxel.

Methods: The CNF-shelled PFP droplets were produced by mixing a CNF suspension and PFP using a homogenizer. The volume size distribution and concentration of CNF-shelled PFP droplets were estimated from images taken with an optical microscope and analyzed using Fiji software and an in-house Matlab script.

Measuring the Compressibility of Cellulose Nanofiber-Stabilized Microdroplets Using Acoustophoresis.

Droplets with a liquid perfluoropentane core and a cellulose nanofiber shell have the potential to be used as drug carriers in ultrasound-mediated drug delivery. However, it is necessary to understand their mechanical properties to develop ultrasound imaging sequences that enable in vivo imaging of the vaporization process to ensure optimized drug delivery. In this work, the compressibility of droplets stabilized with cellulose nanofibers was estimated using acoustophoresis at three different acoustic pressures.

Photoresponsive and Polarization-Sensitive Structural Colors from Cellulose/Liquid Crystal Nanophotonic Structures.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) possess the ability to form helical periodic structures that generate structural colors. Due to the helicity, such self-assembled cellulose structures preferentially reflect left-handed circularly polarized light of certain colors, while they remain transparent to right-handed circularly polarized light. This study shows that combination with a liquid crystal enables modulation of the optical response to obtain light reflection of both handedness but with reversed spectral profiles.

A Study on the Acoustic Response of Pickering Perfluoropentane Droplets in Different Media.

Acoustic droplet vaporization (ADV) is the physical process of liquid-to-gas phase transition mediated by pressure variations in an ultrasound field. In this study, the acoustic response of novel particle-stabilized perfluoropentane droplets was studied in bulk and confined media. The oil/water interface was stabilized by cellulose nanofibers.

Floating Photocatalysts for Effluent Refinement Based on Stable Pickering Cellulose Foams and Graphitic Carbon Nitride (g-CN).

The transfer of heterogeneous photocatalysis applications from the laboratory to real-life aqueous systems is challenging due to the higher density of photocatalysts compared to water, light attenuation effects in water, complicated recovery protocols, and metal pollution from metal-based photocatalysts. In this work, we overcome these obstacles by developing a buoyant Pickering photocatalyst carrier based on green cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) derived from wood. The air bubbles in the carrier were stable because the particle surfactants provided thermodynamic stability and the derived photocatalytic foams floated on water throughout the test period (4 weeks).

Primary cell wall inspired micro containers as a step towards a synthetic plant cell.

The structural integrity of living plant cells heavily relies on the plant cell wall containing a nanofibrous cellulose skeleton. Hence, if synthetic plant cells consist of such a cell wall, they would allow for manipulation into more complex synthetic plant structures. Herein, we have overcome the fundamental difficulties associated with assembling lipid vesicles with cellulosic nanofibers (CNFs).

Unravelling the Acoustic and Thermal Responses of Perfluorocarbon Liquid Droplets Stabilized with Cellulose Nanofibers.

The attractive colloidal and physicochemical properties of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) at interfaces have recently been exploited in the facile production of a number of environmentally benign materials, e.g. foams, emulsions, and capsules.

Porous Cellulose Nanofiber-Based Microcapsules for Biomolecular Sensing.

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) have recently attracted a lot of attention in sensing because of their multifunctional character and properties such as renewability, nontoxicity, biodegradability, printability, and optical transparency in addition to unique physicochemical, barrier, and mechanical properties. However, the focus has exclusively been devoted toward developing two-dimensional sensing platforms in the form of nanopaper or nanocellulose-based hydrogels. To improve the flexibility and sensing performance in situ, for example, to detect biomarkers in vivo for early disease diagnostics, more advanced CNF-based structures are needed.

Using dextran of different molecular weights to achieve faster freeze-drying and improved storage stability of lactate dehydrogenase.

Freeze-drying of protein formulations is frequently used to maintain protein activity during storage. The freeze-drying process usually requires long primary drying times because the highest acceptable drying temperature to obtain acceptable products is dependent on the glass transition temperature of the maximally freeze-concentrated solution (T'). On the other hand, retaining protein activity during storage is related to the glass transition temperature (T) of the final freeze-dried product.

Toward Improved Understanding of the Interactions between Poorly Soluble Drugs and Cellulose Nanofibers.

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) have interesting physicochemical and colloidal properties that have been recently exploited in novel drug-delivery systems for tailored release of poorly soluble drugs. The morphology and release kinetics of such drug-delivery systems heavily relied on the drug-CNF interactions; however, in-depth understanding of the interactions was lacking. Herein, the interactions between a poorly soluble model drug molecule, furosemide, and cationic cellulose nanofibers with two different degrees of substitution are studied by sorption experiments, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation.

Superamphiphobic coatings based on liquid-core microcapsules with engineered capsule walls and functionality.

Microcapsules with specific functional properties, related to the capsule wall and core, are highly desired in a number of applications. In this study, hybrid cellulose microcapsules (1.2 ± 0.

Bioinspired capsules based on nanocellulose, xyloglucan and pectin - The influence of capsule wall composition on permeability properties.

Unlabelled: Materials based on renewable biopolymers, selective permeability and stimuli-responsive release/loading properties play an important role in biomedical applications. Here, in order to mimic the plant primary cell-wall, microcapsules have been fabricated using cell wall polysaccharides, namely pectin, xyloglucan and cellulose nanofibers. For the first time, a large amount of xyloglucan was successfully included in such capsules.

Cellulose nanofibers as excipient for the delivery of poorly soluble drugs.

Poor aqueous solubility of drugs is becoming an increasingly pronounced challenge in the formulation and development of drug delivery systems. To overcome the limitations associated with these problematic drugs, formulation scientists are required to use enabling strategies which often demands the use of new excipients. Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) is such an excipient and it has only recently been described in the pharmaceutical field.

Floating solid cellulose nanofibre nanofoams for sustained release of the poorly soluble model drug furosemide.

Objectives: This study aimed to prepare a furosemide-loaded sustained release cellulose nanofibre (CNF)-based nanofoams with buoyancy.

Methods: Dry foams consisting of CNF and the model drug furosemide at concentrations of 21% and 50% (w/w) have been prepared by simply foaming a CNF-drug suspension followed by drying. The resulting foams were characterized towards their morphology, solid state properties and dissolution kinetics.

Solid nanofoams based on cellulose nanofibers and indomethacin-the effect of processing parameters and drug content on material structure.

The unique colloidal properties of cellulose nanofibers (CNF), makes CNF a very interesting new excipient in pharmaceutical formulations, as CNF in combination with some poorly-soluble drugs can create nanofoams with closed cells. Previous nanofoams, created with the model drug indomethacin, demonstrated a prolonged release compared to films, owing to the tortuous diffusion path that the drug needs to take around the intact air-bubbles. However, the nanofoam was only obtained at a relatively low drug content of 21wt% using fixed processing parameters.

Bioinspired Layer-by-Layer Microcapsules Based on Cellulose Nanofibers with Switchable Permeability.

Green, all-polysaccharide based microcapsules with mechanically robust capsule walls and fast, stimuli-triggered, and switchable permeability behavior show great promise in applications based on selective and timed permeability. Taking a cue from nature, the build-up and composition of plant primary cell walls inspired the capsule wall assembly, because the primary cell walls in plants exhibit high mechanical properties despite being in a highly hydrated state, primarily owing to cellulose microfibrils. The microcapsules (16 ± 4 μm in diameter) were fabricated using the layer-by-layer technique on sacrificial CaCO templates, using plant polysaccharides (pectin, cellulose nanofibers, and xyloglucan) only.

Rhamnogalacturonan-I Based Microcapsules for Targeted Drug Release.

Drug targeting to the colon via the oral administration route for local treatment of e.g. inflammatory bowel disease and colonic cancer has several advantages such as needle-free administration and low infection risk.

Solid cellulose nanofiber based foams - Towards facile design of sustained drug delivery systems.

Control of drug action through formulation is a vital and very challenging topic within pharmaceutical sciences. Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) are an excipient candidate in pharmaceutical formulations that could be used to easily optimize drug delivery rates. CNF has interesting physico-chemical properties that, when combined with surfactants, can be used to create very stable air bubbles and dry foams.

Liquid-core nanocellulose-shell capsules with tunable oxygen permeability.

Encapsulation of oxygen sensitive components is important in several areas, including those in the food and pharmaceutical sectors, in order to improve shelf-life (oxidation resistance). Neat nanocellulose films demonstrate outstanding oxygen barrier properties, and thus nanocellulose-based capsules are interesting from the perspective of enhanced protection from oxygen. Herein, two types of nanocellulose-based capsules with liquid hexadecane cores were successfully prepared; a primary nanocellulose polyurea-urethane capsule (diameter: 1.

Cellulose-nanofiber/polygalacturonic acid coatings with high oxygen barrier and targeted release properties.

A bio-inspired coating consisting of pectin (polygalacturonic acid) and cationic cellulose nanofibers were successfully produced by the layer-by-layer method. The build-up and the morphology of the resulting coatings were studied with spectroscopic ellipsometry and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The coating was able to survive the exposure of a simulated gastric fluid, but was partially degraded upon exposure to pectinase enzyme, which simulate the action of the microbial symbionts present in the human colon.

Photon energy upconverting nanopaper: a bioinspired oxygen protection strategy.

The development of solid materials which are able to upconvert optical radiation into photons of higher energy is attractive for many applications such as photocatalytic cells and photovoltaic devices. However, to fully exploit triplet-triplet annihilation photon energy upconversion (TTA-UC), oxygen protection is imperative because molecular oxygen is an ultimate quencher of the photon upconversion process. So far, reported solid TTA-UC materials have focused mainly on elastomeric matrices with low barrier properties because the TTA-UC efficiency generally drops significantly in glassy and semicrystalline matrices.