A Smart Hyperthermia Nanofiber-Platform-Enabled Sustained Release of Doxorubicin and 17AAG for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

This study demonstrates the rational fabrication of a magnetic composite nanofiber mesh that can achieve mutual synergy of hyperthermia, chemotherapy, and thermo-molecularly targeted therapy for highly potent therapeutic effects. The nanofiber is composed of biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone) with doxorubicin, magnetic nanoparticles, and 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin. The nanofiber exhibits distinct hyperthermia, owing to the presence of magnetic nanoparticles upon exposure of the mesh to an alternating magnetic field, which causes heat-induced cell killing as well as enhanced chemotherapeutic efficiency of doxorubicin. The effectiveness of hyperthermia is further enhanced through the inhibition of heat shock protein activity after hyperthermia by releasing the inhibitor 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin. These findings represent a smart nanofiber system for potent cancer therapy and may provide a new approach for the development of localized medication delivery.     

Deacetylated Cellulose Acetate/Polyurethane Composite Nanofiber Membranes with Highly Efficient Oil/Water Separation and Excellent Mechanical Properties

Nowadays, oil pollution has become more serious, which causes great threats both to the ecological environment and human life. In this study, a novel type of multifunctional deacetylated cellulose acetate/polyurethane (d-M_CA:M_TPU) composite nanofiber membranes for oil/water separation are successfully fabricated by electrospinning, which show super-amphiphilicity in air, super-hydrophilicity in oil, and oleophobicity in water. All the d-M_CA:M_TPU composite nanofiber membranes with different mass ratios can be used as water-removing, oil-removing, and emulsion separation substance only by gravity driving force. The highest separation flux for water and oil reaches up to 37 000 and 74 000 L m⁻² h⁻¹, respectively, and all the separation efficiencies are more than 99%. They have outstanding comprehensive mechanics performance, which can be controlled by simply adjusting the mass ratios. They show excellent antifouling and self-cleaning ability, endowing powerful cyclic stability and reusability. Those results show that d-M_CA:M_TPU composite nanofiber membranes have great application prospects in oil/water separation.     

Flexible poly(styrene-ethylene-butadiene-styrene) hybrid nanofibers for bioengineering and water filtration applications

Among the thermoplastic elastomers that play important roles in the polymer industry due to their superior properties, styrene-based species and polyurethane block copolymers are of great interest. Poly(styrene-ethylene-butadiene-styrene) (SEBS) as a triblock copolymer seems to have the potential to meet many demands in different applications due to various industrial requirements where durability, biocompatibility, breaking elongation, and interfacial adhesion are important. In this study, the SEBS triblock copolymer was functionalized with natural (Satureja hortensis, SH) and synthetic (nanopowder, TiO₂) agents to obtain composite nanofibers by electrospinning and electrospraying methods for use in biomedical and water filtration applications. The results were compared with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composite nanofibers, which are commonly used in these fields. Here, functionalized SEBS nanofibers exhibited antibacterial effect while at the same time improving cell viability. In addition, because of successful water filtration by using the SEBS composite nanofibers, the material may have a good potential to be used comparably to TPU for the application.     

A New Process to Make a Porous PTFE Structure from Aqueous PTFE Dispersion with the Help of Hydrogel

A novel method to make a porous material having relatively large cell diameter (200–300 m), which consisted of mainly poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE), was developed from aqueous PTFE dispersion by using the characteristics of hydrogel with the addition of carbon nanofiber (CNF). The porous material was produced as follows: firstly, an aqueous agar gel containing PTFE and CNF was prepared; secondly, the gel was freeze-dried; thirdly, the dried gel was heat-treated at 400°C where the agar was almost decomposed and PTFE became molten. The porous material showed electric conductivity (about 50 ), high porosity (about 96 vol%), and relatively uniform cell structures without shrinkage during freeze drying and heat treatment. While the method without CNF resulted in large shrinkage during heat treatment, meaning that CNF prevented the shrinkage. It was explained by the idea that the existence of rigid CNF, which was dispersed in the cell wall, prohibited the shrinkage of PTFE during heat treatment. It was unexpectedly found by SEM analysis that the porous materials had another macro-porous structure inside the cell wall, suggesting that the developed materials had a double porous structure.     

Effect of solution properties on nanofibrous structure of electrospun poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid)

Electrospinning of poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA) in chloroform or 1,1,1,3,3,3‐hexafluoro‐2‐propanol (HFIP) was investigated, focusing on its solution parameters, to develop nonwoven biodegradable nanofibrous structures for tissue engineering. PLGA nanofibers were obtained by electrospinning of 15 wt % PLGA solution and the resulting average fiber diameters were varied with the range of 270–760 nm, depending on solution property. When small amounts of benzyl triethylammonium chloride (BTEAC) was added to the PLGA/chloroform solution, the average diameter was decreased from 760 to 450 nm and the fibers were densely amounted in a straight shape. In addition, the average fiber diameter (270 nm) of nanofibers electrospun from polar HFIP solvent was much smaller than that (760 nm) of nanofibers electrospun from nonpolar chloroform solvent. Therefore, it could be concluded that conductivity or dielectric constant of the PLGA solution was a major parameter affecting the morphology and diameter of the electrospun PLGA fibers. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 99: 1214–1221, 2006     

静电纺纳米纤维的研究及应用进展

简述了静电纺丝基本原理及纺丝过程中射流存在的几种不稳定性形式;探讨了静电纺丝制备纳米纤维的主要影响因素。回顾了静电纺丝的发展历程,介绍了纳米纤维在电子器件、生物医学领域、滤材、防护服用材料纤维增强复合材料及传感器感知膜等方面的应用。指出静电纺纳米纤维性能优异、应用广泛,应用于生物医学领域是研发热点,必将进一步产业化。     

ZnO微／纳米纤维的静电纺丝及其表征

以聚乙烯吡咯烷酮(PVP)为络合剂与醋酸锌[Zn(CH3COO)2]反应制得前驱体溶液,用静电纺丝法制备了PVP／Zn(CH3COO)2纤维,经煅烧得到具有微孔结构的氧化锌(ZnO)微／纳米纤维。对所制备纤维分别采用差热-热重分析、红外光谱分析、X射线衍射分析、扫描电镜等手段进行了表征。结果表明: PVP/Zn(CH3COO)纤维表面光滑,直径约300-700 nm,经700℃煅烧后,可得到ZnO微／纳米纤维。     

Relationship between structure and dynamic mechanical properties of a carbon nanofiber reinforced elastomeric nanocomposite

The tensile and dynamic mechanical properties of a nanocomposite, containing modified carbon nanofibers (MCNFs) homogenously dispersed in an elastomeric ethylene/propylene (EP) copolymer semicrystalline matrix (84.3 wt% P), have been correlated with the structure development. These properties were characterized by in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction during stretching, dynamic mechanical analysis and X-ray analysis techniques over a wide temperature range. Upon sequential drawing, the tensile strength of the nanocomposite film was notably higher than that of the unfilled polymer even though both samples exhibited a similar amount of crystal fraction and the same degree of crystal orientation, revealing the effect of nanofiller reinforcement in the semicrystalline matrix. The mechanical spectra of the 10 wt% MCNF filled samples in both stretched and non-stretched states showed broadening of the elastic modulus at high temperatures, where the corresponding crystallinity index also decreased. It is conceivable that a significant fraction of chain orientation is induced in the vicinity of the nanofillers during stretching, and these stretched chains with reduced mobility significantly enhance the thermal mechanical properties.     

TiO2/NiO复合纳米纤维制备及光催化性能研究

通过溶胶一凝胶过程,采用静电纺丝技术,以聚乙烯吡略烷酮(PVP,Mn=900 000)和钛酸正丁酯为前驱物,制备了PVP/Ti(OPr)./Ni(CH3COO)2复合一维纳米纤维材料.经控温缓慢氧化分解,在600℃的条件下成功制备了直径50～100 nmTiO2/NiO纳米纤维.采用扫描电镜、红外光谱、X射线粉末衍射、拉曼等分析手段对样品进行了表征,系统地介绍了TiO2光催化作用机理并在紫外灯下使用样品对罗丹明B溶液进行降解实验.结果显示,0.5%TiO2/NiO复合纳米纤维具有良好的光催化活性.     

熔盐法制备碳化矾涂层纳米纤维

以纳米碳管为碳源、模板和金属钒粉末为原料,在KCl-LiCl熔盐体系中于650~850℃条件下成功地合成碳化钒涂层纳米纤维,并通过XRD和SEM对反应得到的碳化钒涂层纳米纤维的结构与形貌进行了表征。结果表明,反应温度、反应时间和碳钒摩尔比对碳化钒晶体的生长和产物的物相组成有着重要影响。