Kirti

Bio: Kirti is an academic researcher from Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute. The author has contributed to research in topics: Materials science & Oxygen evolution. The author has co-authored 3 publications. Previous affiliations of Kirti include Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research.

Recent progress in alginate-based carriers for ocular targeting of therapeutics

Abstract: Eye is one of the susceptible organs of the human body which is associated with several internal organs including the brain. Due to the protective mechanisms of body and ocular barrier properties, the area of ocular drug delivery presents a challenge to pharmaceutical researchers. Alginate is a naturally occurring polysaccharide obtained from marine brown seaweeds and bacterial sources. According to the Food and Drug Administration, (FDA) alginate is generally recognized as safe (GRAS). It is widely used as a gelling agent and thickener in the food industries. In the field of drug delivery, alginate is extensively investigated as an excipient. In ocular targeting of therapeutics, sodium alginate offers many advantages including ion sensitive in situ gelation, non-toxic and biodegradable behaviour in combination with mucoadhesive nature of the polymer. The instant gelation ability of alginate allows it to increase the ocular residence time and enhances the ocular drug bioavailability reducing the requirement of frequent administration of drug. The abundant availability and attractive physicochemical properties of alginate has encouraged pharmaceutical scientists to explore newer strategies in ocular drug targeting. In this review, the efficacy of alginate in delivering various therapeutic agents has been discussed.

Enhancing the photodetection property of CdSe thin films via thermal evaporation technique: role of substrate temperature

Abstract: The current work investigates the influence of the substrate temperature on the photodetection capability of cadmium selenide (CdSe) thin films deposited through economically viable thermal evaporation technique on glass substrates. The substrate temperature varied from room temperature (30 °C to 250 °C). The existence of a single-phase of hexagonal structured CdSe was established from XRD patterns with dominant peaks along the (002) plane in all the samples. The SEM micrographs show the homogeneous surface of the films without any pinholes. The bandgap of the films was found to vary with the variation in the substrate temperature and the sample fabricated at 200 °C substrate temperature showed a bandgap of 2.00 eV. The light-dependent electrical analysis is also made to reveal the photodetection capability of the deposited CdSe films. The 200°C deposited CdSe film exhibits a higher responsivity of 8.07 × 10−2 A W−1 and a maximum detectivity of 6.66 × 109 Jones. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) was found to rise with the substrate temperature and a maximum value of 18.8% for the 200 °C deposited sample. The observed rise and decay times show a rapid response when the incident light intensity is changed from 1 to 5 mW cm−2.