Hydrogels for biomedical applications.

Gelatin is a promising material as scaffold with therapeutic and regenerative characteristics due to its chemical similarities to the extracellular matrix (ECM) in the native tissues, biocompatibility, biodegradability, low antigenicity, cost-effectiveness, abundance, and accessible functional groups that allow facile chemical modifications with other biomaterials or biomolecules. Despite the advantages of gelatin, poor mechanical properties, sensitivity to enzymatic degradation, high viscosity, and reduced solubility in concentrated aqueous media have limited its applications and encouraged the development of gelatin-based composite hydrogels. The drawbacks of gelatin may be surmounted by synergistically combining it with a wide range of polysaccharides. The addition of polysaccharides to gelatin is advantageous in mimicking the ECM, which largely contains proteoglycans or glycoproteins. Moreover, gelatin-polysaccharide biomaterials benefit from mechanical resilience, high stability, low thermal expansion, improved hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, and wound healing potential. Here, we discuss how combining gelatin and polysaccharides provides a promising approach for developing superior therapeutic biomaterials. We review gelatin-polysaccharides scaffolds and their applications in cell culture and tissue engineering, providing an outlook for the future of this family of biomaterials as advanced natural therapeutics.

Gelatin-polysaccharide composite scaffolds for 3D cell culture and tissue engineering: Towards natural therapeutics.

Sustainability considerations in membrane-based technologies for industrial effluents treatment

Water is polluted by various harmful toxic chemical substances, precisely heavy metals, dyes, and pathogens, which have a disastrous effect on the ecological balance of human as well as animal life. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new technologies to remove these noxious pollutants from water/wastewater. Adsorption is one of the predominant method among all the reported techniques for the removal of heavy metals. Nano technological applications in this direction, i.e. development of nano-sized materials, tubes and composites as adsorbents have engrossed rapidly. In this review, current trends of nanomaterials for the removal of heavy metals from water/wastewater are concisely discussed. Applications of different engineered nanomaterials based on iron oxide, titanium oxide, silica, carbon, graphene oxide, and bio-nanomaterials are largely focused. Different strategies and surface modifiers have been used for the surface modifications/functionalization of these nanomaterials, which in turn enhanced the adsorption capacities by many folds. Toxic effects of various nanoparticles are also discussed, and various strategies like embedding, encapsulation to prevent their releases into the environment are deliberated. In addition, the selection of NPs for the removal of various metals has also been discussed in the respective sections. This review will provide an insight into the latest researches, which is expected to offer worthy implications to academicians and industry professionals working in environmental engineering domain for the removal of heavy metals from water/wastewater.

Engineered nanomaterials and their surface functionalization for the removal of heavy metals: A review

Carboxymethyl cellulose-based materials for infection control and wound healing: A review.

This study describes the preparation of composite film using chitosan (CS) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with incorporated cellulose nanowhiskers (CNWs) for drug delivery application. CNWs were prepared by acid hydrolysis of cellulose with sulfuric acid. Field emission scanning electron microscopy studies revealed nanofibrous morphology of CNWs with 20-30 nm diameter and 200-250 nm in length. X-ray powder diffraction analysis confirmed highly crystalline nature of CNWs with 92.81% crystallinity. Incorporation of CNWs enhanced the thermal and mechanical properties of films. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy data showed physical interactions between polymer-polymer and polymer-drug. Films prepared with CNWs showed improved swelling behavior which resulted in sustained drug release from polymeric matrix. In vitro curcumin release data were fitted with two-step release model; Step 1 as desorption from the outer surface of the film, and Step 2 as diffusion from within the film and subsequent desorption. The release kinetics confirmed biphasic release profile with different release rates along with diffusion controlled curcumin release. Prepared films showed high biocompatibility with excellent antibacterial activities. Overall, the performed studies confirmed CS-PVP-CNWs based release system can as a potential candidate for wound dressing applications with sustained drug release. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 2391-2404, 2017.

Fabrication and characterization of chitosan, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and cellulose nanowhiskers nanocomposite films for wound healing drug delivery application.

Fabrication, characterization and drug loading efficiency of citric acid crosslinked NaCMC-HPMC hydrogel films for wound healing drug delivery applications.

Cellulose based nanocomposite hydrogel films consisting of sodium carboxymethylcellulose-grapefruit seed extract nanoparticles for potential wound healing applications.

Effect of Amylose–Amylopectin Ratios on Physical, Mechanical, and Thermal Properties of Starch‐Based Bionanocomposite Films Incorporated with CMC and Nanoclay

K. Dharmalingam

Papers

Fabrication and characterization of chitosan, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and cellulose nanowhiskers nanocomposite films for wound healing drug delivery application.

Fabrication, characterization and drug loading efficiency of citric acid crosslinked NaCMC-HPMC hydrogel films for wound healing drug delivery applications.

Cellulose based nanocomposite hydrogel films consisting of sodium carboxymethylcellulose-grapefruit seed extract nanoparticles for potential wound healing applications.

Effect of Amylose–Amylopectin Ratios on Physical, Mechanical, and Thermal Properties of Starch‐Based Bionanocomposite Films Incorporated with CMC and Nanoclay

Implementation of artificial neural network model for continuous hydrogen production using confectionery wastewater.