Amphiphilic Chitosan Bearing Double Palmitoyl Chains and Quaternary Ammonium Moieties as a Nanocarrier for Plasmid DNA.

Amphiphilic chitosan, bPalm-CS-HTAP, having -(2-((2,3-bis(palmitoyloxy)propyl)amino)-2-oxoethyl) (bPalm) groups as double hydrophobic tails and -[(2-hydroxyl-3-trimethylammonium)] propyl (HTAP) groups as hydrophilic heads was synthesized and evaluated for its self-assembly properties and potential as a gene carrier. The degree of bis-palmitoyl group substitution ( ) and the degree of quaternization () were approximately 2 and 56%, respectively. bPalm-CS-HTAP was found to assemble into nanosized spherical particles with a hydrodynamic diameter ( ) of 265.

Nanocellulose Films to Improve the Performance of Distance-based Glucose Detection in Paper-based Microfluidic Devices.

We report on a simple, cost-effective, instrument-free, and portable distance-based paper device coupled with NFs for the determination of glucose. The analysis reaction is based upon the oxidative etching reaction of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the presence of HO that is produced from glucose after a glucose oxidase (GOx) catalytic reaction leading to a morphological transformation of AgNPs. A color band length of AgNPs is coated on to a detection channel and then etched by HO, and these were changed from a purple color to colorless as a correlate of the glucose concentration.

Vulcanization characteristics and dynamic mechanical behavior of natural rubber reinforced with silane modified silica.

Two silane coupling agents were used for hydrolysis-condensation reaction modification of nanosilica surfaces. The surface characteristics were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The vulcanization kinetics of natural rubber (NR) + silica composites was studied and compared to behavior of the neat NR using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in the dynamic scan mode.

Tribological properties of epoxy + silica hybrid materials.

Various amounts of nano size silica particles prepared by a sol-gel process were added to epoxy+ amine systems. We have investigated tribological properties including friction and sliding wear resistance of hybrids so obtained, and also relationships between different tribological properties and surface topography. The thermal degradation behavior and thermal stabilities were determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).