Application of block-copolymer supramolecular assembly for the fabrication of complex TiO2 nanostructures

Application of hybrid blocking layers in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

A hybrid blocking layer consisting of a conducting TiO₂ network embedded in a ceramic matrix is implemented in a solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell. This novel type of blocking layer is thinner than the classical blocking layer films as shown with SEM and XRR measurements, and thereby the conductivity of the hybrid film is increased by 110%. A percolating TiO₂ network, proven by TEM/ESI and GISAXS measurements, allows for the charge transport. Although being thinner, the hybrid film completely separates the rough electrode material from the hole-transport medium in solar cells to avoid the recombination of charge carriers at this interface. In total, the power conversion efficiency of solar cells is improved: the application in photovoltaics shows that the efficiency of devices with the hybrid blocking layer is increased by 6% compared to identical solar cells employing the conventional blocking layer.

A review of polymeric refabrication techniques to modify polymer properties for biomedical and drug delivery applications

Polymers are extensively used in the pharmaceutical and medical field because of their unique and phenomenal properties that they display. They are capable of demonstrating drug delivery properties that are smart and novel, such properties that are not achievable by employing the conventional excipients. Appropriately, polymeric refabrication remains at the forefront of process technology development in an endeavor to produce more useful pharmaceutical and medical products because of the multitudes of smart properties that can be attained through the alteration of polymers. Small alterations to a polymer by either addition, subtraction, self-reaction, or cross reaction with other entities have the capability of generating polymers with properties that are at the level to enable the creation of novel pharmaceutical and medical products. Properties such as stimuli-responsiveness, site targeting, and chronotherapeutics are no longer figures of imaginations but have become a reality through utilizing processes of polymer refabrication. This article has sought to review the different techniques that have been employed in polymeric refabrication to produce superior products in the pharmaceutical and medical disciplines. Techniques such as grafting, blending, interpenetrating polymers networks, and synthesis of polymer complexes will be viewed from a pharmaceutical and medical perspective along with their synthetic process required to attain these products. In addition to this, each process will be evaluated according to its salient features, impeding features, and the role they play in improving current medical devices and procedures.