scholarly journals Nucleation Points: The Forgotten Parameter in the Synthesis of Hydrogel-Coated Gold Nanoparticles

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 373
Author(s):  
Adolfo Sepúlveda ◽  
Audrey Picard-Lafond ◽  
André Marette ◽  
Denis Boudreau

The implementation of gold-hydrogel core-shell nanomaterials in novel light-driven technologies requires the development of well-controlled and scalable synthesis protocols with precisely tunable properties. Herein, new insights are presented concerning the importance of using the concentration of gold cores as a control parameter in the seeded precipitation polymerization process to modulate—regardless of core size—relevant fabrication parameters such as encapsulation yield, particle size and shrinkage capacity. Controlling the number of nucleation points results in the facile tuning of the encapsulation process, with yields reaching 99% of gold cores even when using different core sizes at a given particle concentration. This demonstration is extended to the encapsulation of bimodal gold core mixtures with equally precise control on the encapsulation yield, suggesting that this principle could be extended to encapsulating cores composed of other materials. These findings could have a significant impact on the development of stimuli-responsive smart materials.

Author(s):  
Khodadad Mostakim ◽  
Nahid Imtiaz Masuk ◽  
Md. Rakib Hasan ◽  
Md. Shafikul Islam

The advancement in 3D printing has led to the rapid growth of 4D printing technology. Adding time, as the fourth dimension, this technology ushered the potential of a massive evolution in fields of biomedical technologies, space applications, deployable structures, manufacturing industries, and so forth. This technology performs ingenious design, using smart materials to create advanced forms of the 3-D printed specimen. Improvements in Computer-aided design, additive manufacturing process, and material science engineering have ultimately favored the growth of 4-D printing innovation and revealed an effective method to gather complex 3-D structures. Contrast to all these developments, novel material is still a challenging sector. However, this short review illustrates the basic of 4D printing, summarizes the stimuli responsive materials properties, which have prominent role in the field of 4D technology. In addition, the practical applications are depicted and the potential prospect of this technology is put forward.


Author(s):  
Yunhui Hao ◽  
Lei Gao ◽  
Xiunan Zhang ◽  
Rongli Wei ◽  
Ting Wang ◽  
...  

Stimuli-responsive molecular crystals are fascinating for their potential as adaptive smart materials. However, achieving one crystal that could respond to multiple stimuli and perform multiple functionalities simultaneously is still challenging....


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Cretu ◽  
Loredana Maiuolo ◽  
Domenico Lombardo ◽  
Elisabeta I. Szerb ◽  
Pietro Calandra

The involvement of metal ions within the self-assembly spontaneously occurring in surfactant-based systems gives additional and interesting features. The electronic states of the metal, together with the bonds that can be established with the organic amphiphilic counterpart, are the factors triggering new photophysical properties. Moreover, the availability of stimuli-responsive supramolecular amphiphile assemblies, able to disassemble in a back-process, provides reversible switching particularly useful in novel approaches and applications giving rise to truly smart materials. In particular, small amphiphiles with an inner distribution, within their molecular architecture, of various polar and apolar functional groups, can give a wide variety of interactions and therefore enriched self-assemblies. If it is joined with the opportune presence and localization of noble metals, whose chemical and photophysical properties are undiscussed, then very interesting materials can be obtained. In this minireview, the basic concepts on self-assembly of small amphiphilic molecules with noble metals are shown with particular reference to the photophysical properties aiming at furnishing to the reader a panoramic view of these exciting problematics. In this respect, the following will be shown: (i) the principles of self-assembly of amphiphiles that involve noble metals, (ii) examples of amphiphiles and amphiphile-noble metal systems as representatives of systems with enhanced photophysical properties, and (iii) final comments and perspectives with some examples of modern applications.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (41) ◽  
pp. 8745-8749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Ding ◽  
Stoyan K. Smoukov ◽  
Jeremy J. Baumberg

Facile, scalable synthesis of monodisperse anisotropic hybrid nanoparticles (Au nanospheres/nanorod cores and poly(divinyl benzene) shell). Mechanism is based on nonlinear swelling of the polymer during a seeded polymerization process.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela M. Zanata ◽  
Maria Isabel Felisberti

Amphiphilic and stimuli-responsive triblock copolymers are an important class of smart materials due to their low critical micellar concentration in solution and capacity of self-assembly into different structures depending on...


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinesh K. Patel ◽  
Yu-Ri Seo ◽  
Ki-Taek Lim

Stimuli-responsive materials, also known as smart materials, can change their structure and, consequently, original behavior in response to external or internal stimuli. This is due to the change in the interactions between the various functional groups. Graphene, which is a single layer of carbon atoms with a hexagonal morphology and has excellent physiochemical properties with a high surface area, is frequently used in materials science for various applications. Numerous surface functionalizations are possible for the graphene structure with different functional groups, which can be used to alter the properties of native materials. Graphene-based hybrids exhibit significant improvements in their native properties. Since functionalized graphene contains several reactive groups, the behavior of such hybrid materials can be easily tuned by changing the external conditions, which is very useful in biomedical applications. Enhanced cell proliferation and differentiation of stem cells was reported on the surfaces of graphene-based hybrids with negligible cytotoxicity. In addition, pH or light-induced drug delivery with a controlled release rate was observed for such nanohybrids. Besides, notable improvements in antimicrobial activity were observed for nanohybrids, which demonstrated their potential for biomedical applications. This review describes the physiochemical properties of graphene and graphene-based hybrid materials for stimuli-responsive drug delivery, tissue engineering, and antimicrobial applications.


Biomedicines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junwei Zhao ◽  
Federica Santino ◽  
Daria Giacomini ◽  
Luca Gentilucci

Integrins are a family of cell surface receptors crucial to fundamental cellular functions such as adhesion, signaling, and viability, deeply involved in a variety of diseases, including the initiation and progression of cancer, of coronary, inflammatory, or autoimmune diseases. The natural ligands of integrins are glycoproteins expressed on the cell surface or proteins of the extracellular matrix. For this reason, short peptides or peptidomimetic sequences that reproduce the integrin-binding motives have attracted much attention as potential drugs. When challenged in clinical trials, these peptides/peptidomimetics let to contrasting and disappointing results. In the search for alternative utilizations, the integrin peptide ligands have been conjugated onto nanoparticles, materials, or drugs and drug carrier systems, for specific recognition or delivery of drugs to cells overexpressing the targeted integrins. Recent research in peptidic integrin ligands is exploring new opportunities, in particular for the design of nanostructured, micro-fabricated, cell-responsive, stimuli-responsive, smart materials.


Soft Matter ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (22) ◽  
pp. 5139-5147
Author(s):  
Dhawal R. Thakare ◽  
Grayson Schaer ◽  
Mostafa Yourdkhani ◽  
Nancy R. Sottos

Monodisperse stimuli-responsive microcapsules are difficult to fabricate with precise control over capsule properties. The paper reports a facile technique to produce highly tunable and monodisperse emulsion-templated acid-responsive microcapsules.


2019 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 291-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Zhang ◽  
Qingyi Lu ◽  
Caiyu Yang ◽  
Shuo Zhao ◽  
Ye Chen ◽  
...  

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