Preparation and Characterization of Chemically Crosslinked Polyvinyl Alcohol/Carboxylated Nanocrystalline Cellulose Nanocomposite Hydrogel Films with High Mechanical Strength

Chemically crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/carboxylated nanocry-stalline cellulose (PVA/CNCC) nanocomposite hydrogel films were fabricated by film-casting of PVA/CNCC mixture solutions and subsequent thermal-curing of the PVA with the CNCC. Gel fractions of the hydrogel films were measured to confirm the occurrence of crosslinking. Morphologies of the hydrogel films were characterized by polarized light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Thermal properties, swelling behavior and mechanical properties of the hydrogel films were investigated to evaluate the influence of CNCC content (10～30% of PVA mass). Equilibrium water content of the hydrogel films was in the range of 40～49%. At swelling equilibrium, the hydrogel films could be stretched to 3～3.4 times their original length, and their tensile strength was in the range of 7.9～11.6 MPa. The results show that the PVA/CNCC nanocomposite hydrogel films were both extensible and highly tough.     

Gelatin/Montmorillonite and Gelatin/Polyvinyl Alcohol/Montmorillonite Bionanocomposite Hydrogels: Microstructural,Swelling and Drying Properties

Abstract

Gelatin/montmorillonite bionanocomposite hydrogels containing 0, 5 and 10?wt.% of montmorillonite were prepared via two different techniques, either a cooling or drying method. In addition, gelatin/polyvinyl alcohol/montmorillonite bionanocomposite hydrogels having gelatin/polyvinyl alcohol ratios of 1/1, 1/2 and 2/1, loaded with 0, 5 and 10?wt.% of montmorillonite, were prepared via a cyclic freezing-thawing technique. The microstructural properties of both types of the prepared bionanocomposite hydrogels were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The gel fraction, swelling behavior and drying kinetics of all prepared bionanocomposite hydrogels were also studied. The XRD and SEM results showed a porous structure with a possible exfoliated morphology for both types of the prepared bionanocomposite hydrogels. In addition, the gel fraction of the bionanocomposite hydrogels increased and a more entangled and crosslinked network with a decreased pore size was obtained by increasing the loading level of montmorillonite for both types of the bionanocomposite hydrogels. The swelling ratio and drying rate of both types of the bionanocomposite hydrogels could be increased by decreasing the PVA portion or MMT loading level, while the swelling and drying ability of the gelatin/montmorillonite bionanocomposite hydrogels prepared via the cooling method was higher than those of the corresponding samples prepared via the drying method.     

Characterization of Polyvinyl Alcohol/ZnO Nanocomposite Hydrogels for Wound Dressings

Polymeric hydrogels, as novel soft biomaterials, have found various applications in the medical field; for instance, as wound dressings and wound care management. In this study, in order to achieve wound dressings with improved properties, nanocomposite hydrogels using incorporation of nano zinc oxide (ZnO) in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), were prepared by a freezing-thawing method. The effect of ZnO loading on the mechanical, structural, physical and antibacterial properties of the samples was investigated and the morphology of the prepared nanocomposite hydrogels was determined by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The results of mechanical tests of the nanocomposite hydrogels, using compressive and hardness tests, indicated that by adding increasingly amounts of the ZnO nanoparticles, the mechanical properties of the nanocomposite hydrogels were improved. Structure-related properties of the hydrogels, such as swelling and gel fraction measurements, showed that the increase in ZnO content lead to a decrease in the swelling rate and increase in the gel fraction of the nanocomposites. Antibacterial and biocompatibility analysis revealed that, with increasing nano ZnO content, the antibacterial properties of the nanocomposite significantly increased and the cells viability rose, leading to slightly reduced toxicity. The results of this work indicated that the presence and quantity of added ZnO in the PVA hydrogels were very influential factors to obtain the desirable characteristics of wound dressings, such as absorbing the wound fluids and exudates, being biocompatible, anti-bacterial and nontoxic, and having mechanical stability and flexibility.     

Swelling and Drying Mechanisms of Freeze-Thawed Polyvinyl Alcohol/Egg White/Montmorillonite Bionanocomposite Hydrogels

Abstract

Polyvinyl alcohol and egg white bionanocomposite hydrogels loaded with montmorillonite clay were fabricated by a freezing-thawing technique. The bionanocomposite hydrogels showed an exfoliated morphology and they had a more interconnected and dense network as compared with the clay-free sample. The montmorillonite layers acted as multifunctional crosslinkers and the bionanocomposite hydrogels had nanoscale, slit-shaped pores. The swelling ratios of the bionanocomposite hydrogels were increased either by decreasing the content of incorporated montmorillonite or by increasing the pH of the swelling medium. It was found that the bionanocomposite hydrogels having a higher content of montmorillonite exhibited a slightly slower drying process with a longer drying duration. Using the Ritger-Peppas model, it was shown that the swelling and drying mechanisms for all bionanocomposite hydrogels were non-Fickian diffusion. According to the Peppas-Sahlin model, it was found that the absorption of the swelling agent molecules during the swelling process and also the removal of water molecules during the drying process in the early stages of the processes occurred mostly due to their diffusion. At higher swelling or drying times, the contribution of the relaxation (for swelling) and shrinkage (for drying) of the polyvinyl alcohol polymeric chains and egg white protein chains was increased.     

Calcination Effect on the Photoluminescence,Optical, Structural,and Magnetic Properties of Polyvinyl Alcohol Doped ZnFe2O4 Nanoparticles

Abstract

Spinel ferrite based nanoparticle material has been at the forefront of contemporary nanotechnology for use in various industrial and biomedical applications. The preparation and characterization of zinc ferrite nanoparticles (ZFNPs) doped with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) are reported in this work. The formulated ZFNP/PVAs were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) and a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The XRD established the cubic spinel crystal structure of the as-prepared and calcined sample with an increase in the crystallite size after the calcination. The SEM analysis showed a spherical morphology within the range of 10-40?nm after calcination. The bandgap energy was enhanced after calcination. The PL analysis revealed a prominent peak in the UV band, which showed the characteristics of the formulated nanostructure. Transformation to a superparamagnetic nature was observed after calcination. It is noteworthy that after calcination of the formulated ZFNP/PVAs, the structural, optical, bandgap energy, morphology, photoluminescence and the magnetic properties were influenced and enhanced for various applications, chiefly for hyperthermia, magnetic resonance imaging, drug delivery and allied disciplines.     

Antibacterial and Miscibility Properties of Chitosan/Collagen Blends

The miscibility, bioactivity, and antibacterial properties of chitosan/collagen specimens were systematically studied. The specimens were prepared by blending collagen and chitosan with varying deacetylation degrees in solutions; the collagen molecules had been extracted from pigskins using the acid swelling-pepsin digestion method. To understand the miscibility properties of collagen and chitosan molecules, the intrinsic viscosity and differential scanning calorimetry analysis of collagen, chitosan, and collagen/chitosan specimens were performed. The instrinsic viscosity measurements suggested that chitosan and collagen molecules with varying deacetylation degrees were miscible at molecular level for all compositions and degrees of deacetylation of chitosan/collagen mixture solutions prepared in this study. Fourier transform infrared analyses suggested that the percentage of preserved triple helix structures present in collagen molecules in collagen/chitosan specimens decreased with increasing chitosan contents, since the ratios of peak absorbance at 1239 cm^?1 of amide III and 1455 cm^?1 of C?H bending of collagen/chitosan specimens decreased significantly with increase in their chitosan contents. Abnormally high denaturation temperatures (T_d) were observed as the chitosan contents of collagen/chitosan specimens reached 40 wt%, at which T_d of collagen molecules was even higher than that of the corresponding pure chitosan molecules with varying deacetylation degrees. The antibacterial activity of collagen/chitosan blends increased consistently with increasing deacetylation degrees and concentrations of chitosan molecules in collagen/chitosan solutions. Possible explanations for these interesting thermal denaturation, antibacterial, and miscibility properties of chitosan/collagen specimens are reported.     

包膜肥料用改性聚乙烯醇膜材料降解性的研究

采用自然环境暴露和田间埋土试验,利用质量变化、红外光谱和电镜扫描技术研究自行研发的包膜肥料用改性聚乙烯醇膜材料的降解性。自然暴露和田间埋土试验结果表明,研发的膜材料均具有一定的降解性,且降解率随培养时间增加呈现上升的趋势。两种试验条件下,降解率最高的膜材料可达到35%以上,其中柠檬酸作为改性剂研发的膜材料降解性远远强于环氧树脂作为改性剂研发的膜材料。柠檬酸/聚乙烯醇/硅藻土复合膜材料因硅藻土的添加使得降解性能进一步增强,强于未改性的膜材料。而环氧树脂/聚乙烯醇膜材料虽然有一定的降解性,但是相较于对照差别不显著,添加硅藻土之后也不能明显增加其降解率。红外光谱表征结果显示,膜降解后一些主要基团CO,CC,CH的数量较对照有所减少,透射率增强,这说明膜发生了一定的降解。电镜扫描结果显示膜降解后表面变粗糙、凹凸不平,也说明该膜材料具有一定的降解性。红外光谱和电镜扫描的结果与质量变化试验的结果相一致,能够更客观地表征膜材料的降解性。研发的聚乙烯醇改性后的膜材料既能有效控制养分释放,又能在自然环境中自行降解,又不对环境造成危害,适合作包膜肥料用的膜材料。     

Irradiation-Dependent Saturable Absorption Properties in Dye-Doped Polyvinyl Alcohol Films Exposed to a Highly Humid Atmosphere

Effects of humidity on nonlinear transmission properties due to saturable absorption were investigated using eosin-Y-doped polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films which had been exposed to a highly humid atmosphere. In a pump-probe measurement, a transmitted probe signal changed in every shot of the pump-pulse irradiation, and tended to approach a steady characteristic. Simultaneous measurements of the transmitted probe power and the phosphorescent lifetime showed that these phenomena stem from the phosphorescent lifetime being lengthened by the successive pump irradiations. This increase in lifetime was found to have originated from reduction of a nonradiative decay rate of an excited state of the dyes. The recurrent pump irradiations are believed to remove moisture, which has strengthened the nonradiative decay rate, from the PVA films.     

含水量对PAM/PVA互穿网络水凝胶性能的影响

应用分子动力学方法对PAM/PVA互穿网络水凝胶体系进行研究.发现该水凝胶体系的内聚能密度、结合能随着水含量的增加而增加,即体系的稳定性更强.由静态力学性能分析发现随体系含水量的增加,弹性系数、工程模量以及延展性均减小.此外,通过对相关函数的分析,发现H₂O分子与其周围原子、官能团之间主要是通过氢键相互作用,形成氢键的强弱关系为O_water >O_PVA >O_PAM >N_PAM,与形成氢键的可能性(难易)关系一致.     

用于蓝光(405nm)激光直写的聚乙烯醇/银纳米复合材料薄膜的制备

利用紫外光诱导还原金属前躯体硝酸银(AgNO3),直接在聚乙烯醇(PVA)薄膜中生长银纳米颗粒,成功制备出PVA/Ag纳米复合材料薄膜。利用紫外-可见吸收光谱分析了银离子浓度、紫外光辐照功率和辐照时间对薄膜光谱的影响趋势。通过优化硝酸银浓度、辐照条件来调节薄膜中银纳米颗粒的尺寸和空间分布密度,成功地将此复合薄膜的等离子共振吸收峰位调节为406nm,并用于蓝光(405nm)激光直写光刻。扫描电子显微镜(SEM)观察表明,该材料中纳米颗粒分布均匀,粒径分布较窄;X射线光电子谱(XPS)证实了合成的纳米颗粒为单质银;原子力显微镜(AFM)分析显示薄膜光刻后获得了表面清晰、光滑、规整的图形。     

Influence of Addition of Hyaluronic Acid (HA) on the Properties of Collagen/HA Composite Scaffolds

In order to develop a scaffolding material for tissue regeneration, porous matrices containing varying composites of collagen and hyaluronic acid (HA) (from 1:0 to 0:1) were fabricated using a freeze-drying method. The effect of the composition on the morphology, hydrophilicity, swelling behavior, mechanical properties, and in vitro cytotoxicity was investigated. The results showed that all the scaffolds had an interconnected pore structure with sufficient pore size for use as a support for the growth of fibroblasts. The addition of HA improved the swelling property, but reduced the compressive strength. The contact angle decreased with increasing HA content. In in vitro cytotoxicity tests using fibroblastic cells, the collagen/HA scaffolds showed no toxicity. All these results suggest that collagen/HA composite scaffolds are a potential candidate for tissue engineering scaffolds.     

Influence of Thickness of Methyl-Orange-Doped Polyvinyl Alcohol Film on Phase Conjugate Matched Filtering

Phase conjugate matched filtering was performed with optical phase conjugation in Fourier-transforming backward degenerate four-wave mixing. A methyl-orange-doped polyvinyl alcohol (MO/PVA) film was used as a phase conjugator. The influence of the film thickness upon decay of a correlation signal due to phase mismatching was investigated. The thickness was varied from 15 μm to 90 μm. Reduction of the film thickness relaxes the tolerance for phase mismatching, which also occurs when a large reference picture is placed in a pump beam or when a reference picture shifts from the optical axis of the pump beam. Using a MO/PVA film of 15 μm thickness, we obtained allowable angles of 3.4° for a horizontally expanded reference picture and larger than 4.3° for a vertically expanded reference picture, assuming about 40% reduction of a correlation signal is allowable.     

Flame-Retarding and Mechanical Properties of Flexible Polyvinyl Chloride with Surface-Treated Lamellar Magnesium Hydroxide

The effects of hydrophobic magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)₂) particles, prepared by a surface modification method with oleic acid, on the flame-retarding and mechanical properties of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were investigated. Comparison between the use of modified and unmodified Mg(OH)₂ in the preparation of PVC composites showed that the former could provide excellent optical and flame-retarding properties. The dispersion of the modified Mg(OH)₂ particles in the PVC matrix was investigated through scanning electron microscopy. Compared with a composite containing unmodified Mg(OH)₂, the rheological and impact strength properties of that containing the modified Mg(OH)₂ filler were found to be significantly improved. These improvements were mostly attributed to the better dispersion of the modified Mg(OH)₂ particles and the strong adhesion between the filler and matrix.     

Nanoporous Nanocomposite Hydrogels Composed of Polyvinyl Alcohol and Na-montmorillonite

Polyvinyl alcohol nanoporous nanocomposite hydrogels containing various levels of Na-montmorillonite were prepared by a cyclic freezing–thawing technique. An exfoliated morphology of silicate layers was observed for the nanocomposite hydrogels. The uniaxial tensile test indicated that the tensile modulus and tensile strength of the nanocomposite hydrogels increased with increasing Na-montmorillonite content, while their elongation-at-break values decreased. The results showed that by adding 15 wt% of montmorillonite to polyvinyl alcohol hydrogels, the molecular weight of polymer chains between two adjacent cross-links decreased to 56% and the effective cross-linking density increased up to 353%. It is also indicated that all nanocomposite hydrogel samples had nanoscale pore diameters and network mesh sizes less than 30 nm. The nanoporous structure of the nanocomposite hydrogels was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy observations and mercury intrusion porosimetry tests.     

MO／PVA薄膜材料在Ar^＋激光488.0nm线预辐照下的红光多重全息存贮

报道了甲基橙偶氮染料掺杂的聚乙烯醇薄膜材料在Ａｒ＾＋激光４８８．０ｎｍ线辐照下，用正交线偏振的６３２．８ｎｍ光作为写入光，通过旋转样品，在同一光斑内形成多个取向不同的相位光栅，实现了多重全息存贮的实验结果。在三重图象的存贮中，通过控制每次的写入时间、得到了三个均匀明亮的衍射图像，其平均衍射效率为０．１％。     

Synthesis and characterization of radiation crosslinked nano silver- polyvinyl alcohol/polyethylene oxide composites

Poly (vinyl alcohol)/poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO/PVA) blends were modified by gamma irradiation in the presence of acrylic acid (AAc) monomer. The modified PVA/PEO blends were then complexed with silver nitrate salt and lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate. Transmission electron microscopy was used to determine the distribution as well as the particle size of the silver nanoparticles (NP) formed in the matrix. The UV–vis absorbance spectra of the prepared grafted nanocomposite membranes confirmed the formation of Ag NP based on their surface plasmon band at 438?nm. The electrical properties of the blended electrolyte polymer films were characterized and discussed.     

CdSe纳米晶的制备条件对发光特性的影响

以巯基乙酸为稳定剂,在水相中制备了CdSe纳米晶水溶胶,并用X射线光电子能谱和透射电子显微镜对其进行了表征,证明了CdSe纳米晶的形成。研究了在不同反应时间所制备的CdSe纳米晶的XRD谱以及吸收光谱和发射光谱的变化情况,并且还研究了不同反应物配比情况下的发射光谱的变化,结果表明改变CdSe纳米晶的制备条件,将会对CdSe纳米晶的发光特性有显著的影响。     

聚乙烯醇与氨基酸接枝共聚物的合成及光谱研究

本文致力于氨基酸类高分子药物的合成、表征。研究目的是研制一种氨基酸类高分子药物用于临床治疗；研究方法是将氨基酸与选定的高分子化合物进行高分子化学反应，联结到高分子链上；研究结果是合成了聚乙烯醇与氨基酸（甘氨酸、丙氨酸）的共聚物，用红外光谱、核磁共振谱对共聚物进行了分析和表征，并通过谱图对氨基酸的转化率进行了讨论，结果证明产物符号要求，且甘氨酸比丙氨酸的转化率高。     

Preparation of Chitosan/Polyvinyl Alcohol Electrospinning Nano-Membranes Using the Green Solvent,Plasma Acid

Abstract

In this paper, a green solvent for chitosan, plasma acid, was made and chitosan/plasma-acid solutions were prepared. An environmentally friendly chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nano-membrane was prepared via electrospinning due to the difficulty of electrospinning of pure chitosan/plasma-acid solutions. Two blending methods of chitosan with PVA were investigated. One way was to mix a chitosan/plasma-acid solution (1%) and a PVA/water solution (10%) with the volume ratios of 2:8, 3:7, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, 7:3 and 8:2, respectively. The results showed that fibrous nano-membranes could start to be formed at a chitosan/PVA mixing ratio of 7:3 up to the ratio of 2:8 with increasing PVA. The average fiber diameters increased with increased adding of PVA, ranging from 74.7?nm for the 7:3 ratio to 280.7?nm for the 2:8 ratio. The other way to prepare the chitosan/PVA solutions was to put PVA and chitosan powders into the plasma acid together. Fibrous nano-membranes could also be formed at 6% PVA and 10% PVA solution, both with 1% chitosan compositions. The average diameters of the resulting nano-fibers were 144.67?nm and 300.7?nm, respectively. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results showed that the chitosan was bonded to the PVA by hydrogen bonds in the nano-membranes (6% PVA, 1% chitosan). It is noted that both of the two blending methods permitted obtaining chitosan/PVA nano-membranes. As indicated, the PVA in the solution had a large effect on the diameters of the nano-fibers. The first method permitted obtaining nano-fibers with smaller diameter. The maximum concentration of chitosan in the solution was 0.7% (7:3 ratio). The second method was simpler and permitted increasing the chitosan concentration in the solution to 1% for both the 6% and 10% concentrations of PVA.