CaCO3 can crystallize as calcite, aragonite and vaterite. Calcite and aragonite are the most common biologically formed CaCO3 polymorphs, and vaterite is transformed into calcite via a solvent mediated process. Calcium carbonate makes an attractive model mineral for studies, since the morphology of CaCO3 has been the subject to control in biomineralization processes. And control of vaterite als...

This review reports recent advances in the field of polymer–layered silicate nano composites. Thesematerials have attracted both academic and industrial attention because they exhibit dramaticimprovement in properties at very low filler contents. Herein, the structure, preparation andproperties of polymer–layered silicate nanocomposites are discussed in general, and finally the effectof clay na...

We experimentally demonstrate that addition of small, charge-neutral polymers to a buffer solution can promote compression of dilute solutions of single electrophoresing DNA. This phenomenon contrasts with the observed extension of DNA during capillary electrophoresis in dilute solutions of high molecular weight polymers. We propose these discrepancies in micron-scale DNA configurations arise f...

objective(s): pharmaceutical industries are leading to improved medications that can target diseases more effectively and precisely. researchers have intended to reformulate drugs so that they may be more safely used in human body. the more targeted a drug is, the lower its chance of triggering drug resistance, a cautionary concern surrounding the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. the aim of t...

Polymer microlenses have been manufactured by delivering droplets of a monomer mixture to a glass substrate using a nano fountain pen (NFP). Subsequent UV polymerization yielded microlenses with optical properties that were controlled by varying the deposition time of the monomer solution. Using this approach, it is possible to strategically place single microlenses at predefined positions with...

We present the first use of digital microfluidic techniques to perform on-chip solid phase extraction (SPE). The material used for SPE was a porous polymer monolith with 12-carbon functionality (C12 PPM) which was photopolymerized on-chip and used to desalt a peptide sample prior to nano-electrospray ionization mass spectrometric analysis (nano-ESI-MS). We anticipate this technique may be usefu...

BACKGROUND Nano bamboo charcoal is being widely used as sustained release carrier for chemicals for its high specific surface area, sound biocompatibility, and nontoxicity; however, there have been no reports on nano bamboo charcoal as sustained release carrier for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). OBJECTIVE To study the effect of nano bamboo charcoal in absorbing and sustained releasing Eu...

For successful tissue regeneration, growth factors should be released over a long period of time at the site of action, but their in vivo half-life time is very short. The sustained release of growth factors could be achieved by taking advantage of biodegradable hydrogels prepared from acidic gelatin with an isoelectric point (IEP) of 5.0. When mixed with this negatively charged gelatin, positi...