Improving hydrophilicity and protein antifouling of electrospun poly(vinylidenefluoride-hexafluoropropylene) nanofiber membranes

A promising RNA nanotechnology in clinical therapeutics: a future perspective narrative review

Nanotechnology is the use of materials that have unique nanoscale properties. In recent years, nanotechnologies have shown promising results for human health, especially in cancer treatment. The self-assembly characteristic of RNA is a powerful bottom-up approach to the design and creation of nanostructures through interdisciplinary biological, chemical and physical techniques. The use of RNA nanotechnology in therapeutics is about to be realized. This review discusses different kinds of nano-based drug delivery systems and their characteristic features.

Research Progress of Water Treatment Technology Based on Nanofiber Membranes

In the field of water purification, membrane separation technology plays a significant role. Electrospinning has emerged as a primary method to produce nanofiber membranes due to its straightforward, low cost, functional diversity, and process controllability. It is possible to flexibly control the structural characteristics of electrospun nanofiber membranes as well as carry out various membrane material combinations to make full use of their various properties, including high porosity, high selectivity, and microporous permeability to obtain high-performance water treatment membranes. These water separation membranes can satisfy the fast and efficient purification requirements in different water purification applications due to their high filtration efficiency. The current research on water treatment membranes is still focused on creating high-permeability membranes with outstanding selectivity, remarkable antifouling performance, superior physical and chemical performance, and long-term stability. This paper reviewed the preparation methods and properties of electrospun nanofiber membranes for water treatment in various fields, including microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, and other special applications. Lastly, various antifouling technologies and research progress of water treatment membranes were discussed, and the future development direction of electrospun nanofiber membranes for water treatment was also presented.

Efficacy of Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes on Fouling Mitigation: A Review

Despite the advantages of high contaminant removal, operational flexibility, and technical advancements offered, the undesirable fouling property of membranes limits their durability, thus posing restrictions on their usage. An enormous struggle is underway to conquer this major challenge. Most of the earlier reviews include the basic concepts of fouling and antifouling, with respect to particular separation processes such as ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and membrane bioreactors, graphene-based membranes, zwitterionic membranes, and so on. As per our knowledge, the importance of nanofiber membranes in challenging the fouling process has not been included in any record to date. Nanofibers with the ability to be embedded in any medium with a high surface to volume ratio play a key role in mitigating the fouling of membranes, and it is important for these studies to be critically analyzed and reported. Our Review hence intends to focus on nanofiber membranes developed with enhanced antifouling and biofouling properties with a brief introduction on fabrication processes and surface and chemical modifications. A summary on surface modifications of preformed nanofibers is given along with different nanofiller combinations used and blend fabrication with efficacy in wastewater treatment and antifouling abilities. In addition, future prospects and advancements are discussed.

Polymer Brushes for Membrane Separations: A Review

The fundamentals and applications of polymer brush-modified membranes are reviewed. This new class of synthetic membranes is explored with an emphasis on tuning the membrane performance through polymer brush grafting. This work highlights the intriguing performance characteristics of polymer brush-modified membranes in a variety of separations. Polymer brushes are a versatile and effective means in designing membranes for applications in protein adsorption and purification, colloid stabilization, sensors, water purification, pervaporation of organic compounds, gas separations, and as stimuli responsive materials.

Convenient Fabrication of Electrospun Prolamin Protein Delivery System with Three-Dimensional Shapeability and Resistance to Fouling

It has been newly discovered that by simply altering the applied voltage, the resultant electrospun prolamin protein fabrics can rapidly (within 30 s) form either flat sheets or self-rolled tubes when immersed in water. This phenomenon opens up many potential biomedical applications for drug delivery. The morphology and structure of both dry and wet fibers were characterized in detail. The hordein/zein fibers fabricated at relatively lower voltage were stabilized by the preaggregated nanoscale hydrophobic domains and exhibited restricted swelling while maintaining a flat sheet shape with minimal changes to secondary structure when immersed in water. By applying a higher voltage, we triggered a greater bending instability during the electrospinning process, and the hordein/zein network structure generated could rapidly relax in an aqueous environment. This increased mobility of molecular chains allowed the uneven aggregation of hydrophobic dopants, which catalyzed the self-rolling of the aligned fibers. Sessile drop measurements even showed a reduction in the contact angle from 106 to 39° for the fibers with 50% zein prepared at raised voltage, indicating the conversion of surface properties caused by the relaxation. All the fibers demonstrated low toxicity in human primary dermal fibroblast cell culture. Moreover, the electrospun fabrics exhibited a strong resistance to protein adsorption and cell attachment, and the release experiment indicated that both three-dimensional porous structures could serve as a carrier for controlled release of incorporated bioactive compounds into phosphate-buffered saline. Therefore, these electrospun prolamin protein fabrics represent an ideal and novel platform to develop nonadherent drug delivery systems for wound dressing and other biomedical applications.

Sticky superhydrophobic hard nanofibers from soft matter

Superhydrophobic soft and hard nanofibers with various water adhesions are obtained by electrodeposition of poly(3,4-propylenedioxythiophene) (ProDOT) derivatives containing two branched alkyl chains. In the case of the hard nanofibers, the fibers are vertically aligned to the substrate and their characteristics can be easily controlled but always with high water adhesion.