The formation of stable vesicles with a controlled size and high stability is an important matter due to their wide application in pharmaceutical and detergency formulations and as drug delivery vehicles. One can control the size of spontaneously formed vesicles in mixtures of zwitterionic and anionic surfactants by the admixture of small amounts of an amphiphilic copolymer of the PEO-PPO-PEO t...

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) coated with a diblock copolymer composed of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PEO-b-PDMAEMA) were prepared, while their reaction with 1,3-propane sultone gave rise to quaternized PEO-b-PDMAEMA chains on AuNPs. Using pyrene as a probe equilibrated with polymer-coated AuNP aqueous solutions, the fluorescence measurement results sh...

Cyclodextrins (CDs) have been extensively studied as drug delivery carriers through host–guest interactions. CD-based poly(pseudo)rotaxanes, which are composed of one or more CD rings threading on the polymer chain with or without bulky groups (or stoppers), have attracted great interest in the development of supramolecular biomaterials. Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) is a water-soluble, biocompati...

Poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) block copolymers (commercially available as Pluronics or Poloxamers) can self-assemble into various nanostructures in water and its mixtures with polar organic solvents. Ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) is a well-known protic ionic liquid that is expected to affect amphiphile self-assembly due to its ionic nature and hydro...

The association of a symmetric polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene-polyoxyethylene (PEO(19)-PPO(29)-PEO(19)) triblock copolymer adsorbed from aqueous solutions onto polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and cellulose surfaces was probed using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Significant morphological differences between the polyolefin substrates (PP and PE) and the cellulose surfaces were observed ...

Solvent-free composite poly~ethylene oxide! ~PEO!-ceramic fiber or mat electrolytes with high ionic conductivity and good interfacial stability have been developed using high-ionic-conductivity La0.55Li0.35TiO3 fibers and mats. The conducting ceramic fibers can penetrate the cross section of the electrolyte film to provide long-range lithium-ion transfer channels, thus producing composite elect...

The mucoadhesive capacity of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) microspheres was studied in contact with Sprague-Dawley rat jejunum at pH = 6 and at 22°C. Dry PHEMA microparticles exhibited adequate mucoadhesive capacity, which was independent of nominal crosslinking ratio. When PHEMA microparticles were loaded with linear PEO chains of molecular weight 1000, the mucoadhesive capacity in...

Electrospinning for the formation of nanoscale diameter fibers has been explored for high-performance filters and biomaterial scaffolds for vascular grafts or wound dressings. Fibers with nanoscale diameters provide benefits due to high surface area. In the present study we explore electrospinning for protein-based biomaterials to fabricate scaffolds and membranes from regenerated silkworm silk...

Poly(ethylene oxide)-stabilized silver nanoparticles (PEO-SSNPs) were synthesized and investigated for their potential use in capillary electrophoretic separation of proteins. It was found that the PEO-SSNPs were relatively stable against changes of the buffer ionic strength, while they began to aggregate with increase of buffer pH. Adding 0.024 g/L PEO-SSNPs to 30 mmol/L phosphate buffer (pH 2...