Development of Novel 2D Composites of Silk Sericin and Rice Starch and Application as Bio-Compatible Scaffold for Cell Culturing

Enhancing the functional properties of rice starch through biopolymer blending for industrial applications: A review

Rice starch has been used in various agri-food products due to its hypoallergenic properties. However, rice starch has poor solubility, lower resistant starch content with reduced retrogradation and poor functional properties. Hence, its industrial applications are rather limited. The lack of comprehensive information and a holistic understanding of the interaction between rice starch and endo/exogenous constituents to improve physico-chemical properties is a prerequisite in designing industrial products with enhanced functional attributes. In this comprehensive review, we highlight the potentials of physically mixing of biopolymers in upgrading the functional characteristics of rice starch as a raw material for industrial applications. Specifically, this review tackles rice starch modifications by adding natural/synthetic polymers and plasticizers, leading to functional blends or composites in developing sustainable packaging materials, pharma- and nutraceutical products. Moreover, a brief discussion on rice starch chemical and genetic modifications to alter starch quality for the deployment of rice starch industrial application is also highlighted.

Pasting, thermo, and Mixolab thermomechanical properties of potato starch-wheat gluten composite systems

This research investigated the viscosity, thermal, thermomechanical, and microstructural properties of potato starch-wheat gluten composite systems with different starch/gluten ratios under mechanical shear and heating conditions. Results showed that the peak, trough, and final viscosities increased with the increase in potato starch fraction. The breakdown and setback values of samples decreased with increasing gluten content, and the endothermic enthalpy showed a similar variation trend. The gelatinization temperature of the samples increased significantly as the gluten proportion increased. Morphological observation showed that the gluten protein was wrapped around potato starch granules and the starch granules have a diluting effect on gluten network. Moreover, gluten formed a water diffusion barrier out of the starch granules, this barrier effect and the competitive hydration between starch and gluten could primarily explain the delayed gelatinization temperatures.

Antifreezing Heat-Resistant Hollow Hydrogel Tubes

Hollow hydrogel tubes that are capable of maintaining their flexibility and structural stability in extreme temperature conditions have potential for use in biomedical scaffolds, carriers, and soft robotics over a wide temperature range. However, the preparation of hollow hydrogel tubes still remains challenging because it normally requires templates or complex devices and it is hard to endow the hollow tubes with antifreezing heat-resistant capabilities. We report a protocol that does not require a template or complex devices, in which sodium alginate film strips are immersed in an aqueous mixture of CaCO₃, CaCl₂, NaHCO₃, and HCl, which results in the manufacture of hollow tubes in 30 min. These hollow tubes are functionalized by glycerol and poly(ethylene glycol), which provides the tubes with antifreezing heat-resistant performances and enables them to keep their flexibility and hollow structures from -70 to 120 °C. This is the first report on antifreezing heat-resistant hollow hydrogel tubes, to the best of our knowledge. Such hollow tubes as carriers can control the sublimation of a mothball at a rate of 1.1 mg/h, which is one-tenth of the sublimating rate of an unloaded mothball. This sublimating rate reduces the hazard to environments along with maintaining the repellent effects. As the tube is a honey carrier, it enables the sustainable release of the honey over 800 min with a high efficacy for tricking and capturing ants. The simple applications demonstrate that the antifreezing heat-resistant hollow tubes might be feasible as carriers for the controlled release in extremely cold/hot environments.