Preparation of Alginate Hydrogel Beads on a Superhydrophobic Surface with Calcium Salt Powder to Enhance the Mechanical Strength and Encapsulation Efficiency of Ingredients.

Calcium alginate hydrogel is one of the most widely used materials for drug-carrier beads used in drug-delivery systems. In this study, we developed a new method to improve the encapsulation efficiency of ingredients, such as medicines, in calcium alginate hydrogel beads. In the gold standard method, the hydrogel beads are prepared in the liquid phase.

Autoclaving-Triggered Hydrogelation of Chitosan-Gluconic acid Conjugate Aqueous Solution for Wound Healing.

Moist wound healing is known to heal wounds faster than dry wound healing. Hydrogel wound dressings are suitable for moist wound healing because of their hyperhydrous structure. Chitosan, a natural polymer, promotes wound healing by stimulating inflammatory cells and releasing bioactive compounds.

Hydrophobically-modified gelatin hydrogel as a carrier for charged hydrophilic drugs and hydrophobic drugs.

Gelatin molecules have been chemically crosslinked using potentially cytotoxic reagents to prepare stable hydrogels. Hydrophobic interaction is a means of forming physical crosslinks that is a good candidate for enhancing the stability of gelatin hydrogels without using cytotoxic chemicals. In this study, we proposed a new method to fabricate hydrogels from hydrophobically-modified gelatin (HMG) with high content of hydrophobic segments.

Millimeter-sized capsules prepared using liquid marbles: Encapsulation of ingredients with high efficiency and preparation of spherical core-shell capsules with highly uniform shell thickness using centrifugal force.

Hypothesis: In our previous study, we prepared millimeter-sized spherical hard capsules by solidifying droplets of liquid monomer or polymer solution placed on superamphiphobic surface. Application of liquid marbles in place of the naked droplets for capsule preparation has a great potential to increase encapsulation efficiency of high volatile ingredients. Further, interfacial thermodynamic prediction of internal configuration of capsules from spreading coefficients may be effective to prepare core/shell capsule.