Fabrication of Thin Film Composite Membranes on Nanozeolite Modified Support Layer for Tailored Nanofiltration Performance

Thin-film composite (TFC) structure has been widely employed in polymeric membrane fabrication to achieve superior performance for desalination and water treatment. In particular, TFC membranes with a thin active polyamide (PA) selective layer are proven to offer improved permeability without compromising salt rejection. Several modifications to TFCs have been proposed over the years to enhance their performance by altering the selective, intermediate, or support layer. This study proposes the modification of the membrane support using nanozeolites prepared by a unique ball milling technique for tailoring the nanofiltration performance. TFC membranes were fabricated by the interfacial polymerization of Piperazine (PIP) and 1,3,5-Benzenetricarbonyl trichloride (TMC) on Polysulfone (PSf) supports modified with nanozeolites. The nanozeolite concentration in the casting solution varied from 0 to 0.2%. Supports prepared with different nanozeolite concentrations resulted in varied hydrophilicity, porosity, and permeability. Results showed that optimum membrane performance was obtained for supports modified with 0.1% nanozeolites where pure water permeance of 17.1 ± 2.1 Lm^-2 h^-1 bar^-1 was observed with a salt rejection of 11.47%, 33.84%, 94%, and 95.1% for NaCl, MgCl₂, MgSO_4, and Na₂SO₄ respectively.

Cellulose Nanofibrils as a Damping Material for the Production of Highly Crystalline Nanosized Zeolite Y via Ball Milling

Nanosized zeolite Y is used in various applications from catalysis in petroleum refining to nanofillers in water treatment membranes. Ball milling is a potential and fast technique to decrease the particle size of zeolite Y to the nano range. However, this technique is associated with a significant loss of crystallinity. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the effect of adding biodegradable and recyclable cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) to zeolite Y in a wet ball milling approach. CNFs are added to shield the zeolite Y particles from harsh milling conditions due to their high surface area, mechanical strength, and water gel-like format. Different zeolite Y to CNFs ratios were studied and compared to optimize the ball milling process. The results showed that the optimal zeolite Y to CNFs ratio is 1:1 to produce a median particle size diameter of 100 nm and crystallinity index of 32%. The size reduction process provided accessibility to the zeolite pores and as a result increased their adsorption capacity. The adsorption capacity of ball-milled particles for methylene blue increased to 29.26 mg/g compared to 10.66 mg/g of the pristine Zeolite. These results demonstrate the potential of using CNF in protecting zeolite Y particles and possibly other micro particles during ball milling.

Effect of Tumor Suppressor MiR-34a Loaded on ZSM-5 Nanozeolite in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: In Vitro and In Vivo Approach

BACKGROUND

MicroRNA modulation therapy has shown great promise to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), however Efficient tissue-specific and safe delivery remains a major challenge.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to develop an inorganic-organic hybrid vehicle for the systemic delivery of the tumor suppressor miR-34a, and to investigate the efficiency of the delivered miR-34a in the treatment of HCC in vitro and in vivo.

METHODS

In the present study, pEGP-miR cloning and expression vector, expressing miR-34a, was electrostatically bound to polyethyleneimine (PEI), and then loaded onto ZSM-5 zeolite nanoparticles (ZNP). Qualitative and quantitative assessment of the transfection efficiency of miR-34a construct in HepG2 cells was applied by GFP screening and qRT-PCR, respectively. The expression of miR-34a target genes was investigated by qRT-PCR in vitro and in vivo.

RESULTS

ZNP/PEI/miR-34a nano-formulation could efficiently deliver into HepG2 cells with low cytotoxicity, indicating good biocompatibility of generated nanozeolite. Furthermore, five injected doses of ZNP/PEI/miR-34a nano-formulation in HCC induced male Balb-c mice, significantly inhibited tumor growth, and demonstrated improved cell structure, in addition to a significant decrease in alphafetoprotein level and liver enzymes activities, as compared to the positive control group. Moreover, injected ZNP/PEI/miR-34a nano-formulation led to a noticeable decrease in the CD44 and c-Myc levels. Results also showed that ZNP/PEI/miR-34a nano-formulation inhibited several target oncogenes including AEG-1, and SOX-9, in vitro and in vivo.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggested that miR-34a is a powerful candidate in HCC treatment and that AEG-1 and SOX-9 are novel oncotargets of miR-34a in HCC. Results also demonstrated that our nano-formulation may serve as a candidate approach for miR-34a restoration for HCC therapy, and generally for safe gene delivery.

Thermally Stable White Emitting Eu3+ Complex@Nanozeolite@Luminescent Glass Composite with High CRI for Organic-Resin-Free Warm White LEDs

Nowadays, it is still a great challenge for lanthanide complexes to be applied in solid state lighting, especially for high-power LEDs because they will suffer severe thermal-induced luminescence quenching and transmittance loss when LEDs are operated at high current. In this paper, we have not only obtained high efficient and thermally chemical stable red emitting hybrid material by introducing europium complex into nanozeolite (NZ) functionalized with the imidazolium-based stopper but also abated its thermal-induced transmittance loss and luminescence quenching behavior via coating it onto a heat-resistant luminescent glass (LG) with high thermal conductivity (1.07 W/mK). The results show that the intensity at 400 K for Eu(PPO)_n-C₄Si@NZ@LG remains 21.48% of the initial intensity at 300 K, which is virtually 153 and 13 times the intensity of Eu(PPO)₃·2H₂O and Eu(PPO)_n-C₄Si@NZ, respectively. Moreover, an organic-resin-free warm white LEDs device with a low CCT of 3994K, a high Ra of 90.2 and R9 of 57.9 was successfully fabricated simply by combining NUV-Chip-On-Board with a warm white emitting glass-film composite (i.e., yellowish-green emitting luminescent glass coated with red emitting hybrid film). Our method and results provide a feasible and promising way for lanthanide complexes to be used for general illumination in the future.