A facile procedure to fabricate the hydrophobic surfaces of calcium carbonate-polymer composites has been well described. Nano-sized highly ordered CaCO3 clusters i.e. calcite/vaterite have been synthesized by simple precipitation in the presence of template made of cationic surfactant: cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and different non-ionic amphiphilic triblock copolymers comprising of...

The nano-sized SiCp/Al–Cu composites were successfully fabricated by combining semisolid stirring with ball milling technology. Microstructures were examined by an olympus optical microscope (OM), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Tensile properties were studied at room temperature. The results show that the α-Al dendrites of the com...

Well dispersion or intercalation/exfoliation of nanoscale fillers (such as nano-CaCO3 and nano-clay) in polymer matrix is currently not easy to be achieved. Supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2) has been reported to have great potential for facilitating the dispersion or intercalation/exfoliation of the nanoscale fillers in polymer matrix. So, in this paper, the effects of dissolved ScCO2 on the...

Recent studies indicate the presence of nano-scale titanium dioxide (TiO2) as an additive in human foodstuffs, but a practical protocol to isolate and separate nano-fractions from soluble foodstuffs as a source of material remains elusive. As such, we developed a method for separating the nano and submicron fractions found in commercial-grade TiO2 (E171) and E171 extracted from soluble foodstuf...

A new generation of bone cement with mechanical properties significantly higher than that of commercially available acrylic bone cements are strongly desired in order to ensure the long term clinical performance of the cemented arthroplasty. Currently commercial acrylic bone cement formulations contain micron-sized particles of either BaSO4 or ZrO2 to provide radiopacity, however these particle...

BACKGROUND Polymers are attractive materials for both biomedical engineering and cardiovascular applications. Although nano-topography has been found to influence cell behaviour, no established method exists to understand and evaluate the effects of nano-topography on polymer-blood interaction. RESULTS We optimized a micro-fluidic set-up to study the interaction of whole blood with nano-struc...

Environmental concerns have led to a rapid growing interest in replacing traditional petroleum-based technology with more green alternatives. Cellulose, one of the main components in plants, is a biodegradable and renewable recourse. The use of cellulose fibers, instead of traditional fibers such as glass and carbon, offers a way to make more environmental friendly biocomposites. By replacing t...

While separating two natural nano-sized triterpenic acids via bromolactonization, we serendipitously discovered that arjuna-bromolactone is an excellent gelator of various organic solvents. A simple and efficient method for the separation of two triterpenic acids and the gelation ability and solid state 1D-helical self-assembly of nano-sized arjuna-bromolactone are reported.

Nano-sized materials possess uniqueness in their properties and designs as compared to their bulk counterparts. For this reason, they have attracted a great deal of attention from the scientific community. Nanocomposite is a composition having a dispersed material that has one or more dimensions, such as length, width and thickness, in the nanometer size range. The nano-sized materials have eme...

In this study, cellulose nanocrystals/zinc oxide (CNCs/ZnO) nanocomposites were dispersed as bifunctional nano-sized fillers into poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and chitosan (Cs) blend by a solvent casting method to prepare PVA/Cs/CNCs/ZnO bio-nanocomposites films. The morphology, thermal, mechanical and UV-vis absorption properties, as well antimicrobial effects of the bio-nanocomposite films were ...