Nanjing University of Science and Technology

About: Nanjing University of Science and Technology is a education organization based out in Nanjing, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Computer science. The organization has 31581 authors who have published 36390 publications receiving 525474 citations. The organization is also known as: Nánjīng Lǐgōng Dàxué & Nánlǐgōng.

Effect of addition of sodium alginate on bacterial cellulose production by Acetobacter xylinum

Abstract: Bacterial cellulose (BC) production by Acetobacter xylinum NUST4.1 was carried out in the shake flask and in a stirred-tank reactor by means of adding sodium alginate (NaAlg) into the medium. When 0.04% (w/v) NaAlg was added in the shake flask, BC production reached 6.0 g/l and the terminal yield of the cellulose was 27% of the total sugar initially added, compared with 3.7 g/l and 24% in the control, respectively. The variation between replicates in all determinations was less than 5%. During the cultivation in the stirred-tank reactor, the addition of NaAlg changed the morphology of cellulose from the irregular clumps and fibrous masses entangled in the internals to discrete masses dispersing into the broth, which indicates that NaAlg hinders formation of large clumps of BC, and enhances cellulose yield. Because the structure of cellulose is changed depending on the culture condition such as additives, structural characteristics of BC produced in the NaAlg-free and NaAlg medium are compared using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD). SEM photographs show some differences in reticulated structures and ribbon width and FT-IR spectra indicate that there is the hydrogen bonding interaction between BC and NaAlg, then X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that BC produced with NaAlg-added has a lower crystallinity and a smaller crystalline size. The results show that enhanced yields and modification of cellulose structure occur in the presence of NaAlg.

Dependence of leaky mode coupling on loss in photonic crystal fiber with hybrid cladding

Abstract: It is possible for core leaky mode to couple with cladding defect leaky mode when the cladding defect is close to fiber core. Dispersion properties and propagation loss of core mode will be affected in some extent once the coupling occurs. But a complete coupling between two leaky modes not always happens even the phase matching condition is satisfied. Leaky mode coupling in photonic crystal fiber with a hybrid cladding which includes low-index and high-index inclusions at the same time is numerically investigated based on a full vector finite element method. It is found that not only phase matching but also loss matching plays an important role in leaky mode coupling. The originally intersecting dispersion curves for the two leaky modes will split and become another two new curves due to the anti-crossing effect when both the real and imaginary parts of their mode effective refractive indices are equal. There is not splitting but some perturbation in dispersion curves for the two phase matching leaky modes when their losses are not equal. A theoretic explanation is also given to these phenomena.

Novel PEG functionalized graphene nanosheets: enhancement of dispersibility and thermal stability.

Abstract: A series of polyethylene glycol (PEG) functionalized graphene sheet hybrid materials (FGHMs) have been successfully synthesized via ester linkages. Interestingly, our products can be dispersed in both polar/protic solvents and nonpolar/nonprotic ones, which differ significantly from previously reported systems and are of great value in the wide-spread application of these "carbon nanosheet" based materials by solution-phase processing. Furthermore, the addition of PEG-modified carbon nanosheets as nanofillers significantly improves the thermal stability of the bulk polymers. In our case, an increase of 35 K in thermal stability can be obtained for PEG4000 after filling with as low as 1 wt % of the PEG modified carbon sheets, suggesting their great potential as novel nanofillers in industry.

Recent advances in natural polymer-based drug delivery systems

Abstract: Natural polymers have been extensively explored as the vehicles for encapsulation and delivery of drugs and other bioactive molecules, which have attracted tremendous attention. Their inherent advantages in marvelous biocompatibility, controlled enzyme degradation, specific interactions with some biomolecules, and easy modification endow them with versatility in drug delivery. In this perspective, the drug delivery systems (DDS) constructed by representative natural polymers, polysaccharides (chitosan and hyaluronic acid) and proteins (silk fibroin and collagen), are generally summarized. Payloads mainly involve small molecular weight drug, proteins, and DNA for the applications of tissue engineering, wound healing or anticancer therapy. Moreover, the DDS constructed by their derivatives and with other materials also have been presented focusing on the chemical and morphological modifications, the addtions of smart stimuli-triggered or targeted motifs and so on, which evidently promoted the delivery and therapy efficiency. Obviously, more intelligent and specific delivery strategies will be developed and more multifunctional natural polymers based carriers will be expended in the future. We try to seek more insights into the evolution of delivery system so as to figure out what we will truly gain in the next few decades to come.