Browsing by Subject "Crosslinking"

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Open Access
Cyclodextrin functionalized nanofibers via electrospinning
(2014) Çelebioğlu, Aslı
Electrospinning is a commonly studied and widely applied technique for generating nanofibers, with a diameter ranging from several tens of nanometers to a few micrometers. The low-cost, simple set-up, relatively high production rate and reproducibility increase the interests on this method in both academia and industry. Electrospun nanofibers are produced from a broad range of materials with extremely high surface area, very light-weight, nano-porous features and distinct physical/mechanical properties. The general talk in this technique focuses on the production of nanofibers from polymer base materials. However, very recent studies demonstrated that, it is also possible to obtain nanofibers from non-polymeric systems. For this novel development in electrospinning researches, we have achieved to generate nanofibers from cyclodextrins (CD) without using a polymeric template. CD are cyclic oligosaccharides consisting of α-(1,4)-linked glucopyranose units. The truncated cone shape structure of CD provides a favorable place for various kinds of organic molecules to form non-covalent host-guest inclusion complexes (IC). The enhancements and progressing at the guest molecules property and situation, creating with the inclusion complexation, make CD applicable in variety of areas including filtration, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, functional foods, textiles, analytic chemistry etc. In this thesis, we report on the electrospinning of CD nanofibers, represent their functionalization and potential applications. Firstly, we produced CD nanofibers from three different chemically modified CD types (hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD), hydroxypropyl-γ-cyclodextrin (HPγCD) and methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD)). Afterwards, the electrospinning of native CD (α-CD, β-CD and γ-CD) nanofibers was achieved. The molecular entrapment capability of CD nanofibers was shown by capturing toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the surrounding. As the next step, the polymer-free nanofibers were obtained from the cyclodextrin inclusion complexes (CD-IC) with antibacterial agent, vanillin and essential oils. Here, we have also indicated applicability of CD-IC nanofibers as a result of antibacterial test. The functionalization of the CD nanofibers was continued with the green and one-step synthesis of metal nanoparticles (Ag-NP, Au-NP and Pd-NP) incorporated nanofibers, in which CD were used as reducing, stabilizing agent and fiber template. Even, the antibacterial, SERS and catalyst potential of these CD based nanofibers were demonstrated for the related nanoparticles. Our research is expanded to a new stage by the production of insoluble poly-CD nanofibers. We have worked on different crosslinking agents to attain insoluble poly-CD nanofibers with uniform morphology. After the optimization of poly-CD nanofibers, the most durable polyCD nanowebs were selected for further analysis and evaluation of the filtration performance in liquid environment. Within poly-CD nanofibers, we have eliminated the solubility challenge of CD nanofibers that restrict their usage. So, we assume that, poly-CD nanofibers will lead-up to generation of new advances for practices of CD nanofibers. All studies showed that, the self-assembly and self-aggregation property of CD are the prior requirements for the electrospinnability of these small molecules. To conclude, very intriguing materials were obtained by integrating large surface area of nanofibers with specific host-guest inclusion complexation capability and non-toxic, biocompatible nature of the CD. Moreover, CD molecules, which are generally used in the powder form, were rendered into more applicable nanofibers form that will represent ease during their usage.
Open Access
Fabrication of cellulose acetate/polybenzoxazine cross-linked electrospun nanofibrous membrane for water treatment
(Elsevier, 2017-12) Ertaş, Yelda; Uyar, Tamer
Herein, polybenzoxazine based cross-linked cellulose acetate nanofibrous membrane exhibiting enhanced thermal/mechanical properties and improved adsorption efficiency was successfully produced via electrospinning and thermal curing. Initially, suitable solution composition was determined by varying the amount of the benzoxazine (BA-a) resin, cellulose acetate (CA) and citric acid (CTR) to obtain uniform nanofibrous membrane via electrospinning. Subsequently, thermal curing was performed by step-wise at 150, 175, 200 and 225 °C to obtain cross-linked composite nanofibrous membranes. SEM images and solubility experiments demonstrated that most favorable result was obtained from the 10% (w/v) CA, 5% (w/v) BA-a and 1% (w/v) CTR composition and cross-linked nanofibrous membrane (CA10/PolyBA-a5/CTR1) was obtained after the thermal curing. Chemical structural changes (ring opening) occurred by thermal curing revealed successful cross-linking of BA-a in the composite nanofibrous membrane. Thermal, mechanical and adsorption performance of pristine CA and CA10/PolyBA-a5/CTR1 nanofibrous membranes were studied. Char yield of the pristine CA nanofibrous membrane has increased notably from 12 to 24.7% for composite CA10/PolyBA-a5/CTR1 membrane. When compared to pristine CA membrane, CA10/PolyBA-a5/CTR1 nanofibrous membrane has shown superior mechanical properties having tensile strength and Young's modulus of 8.64 ± 0.63 MPa and 213.87 ± 30.79 MPa, respectively. Finally, adsorption performance of pristine CA and CA10/PolyBA-a5/CTR1 nanofibrous membranes was examined by a model polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compound (i.e. phenanthrene) in aqueous solution, in which CA10/PolyBA-a5/CTR1 nanofibrous membrane has shown better removal efficiency (98.5%) and adsorption capacity (592 μg/g).
Open Access
Synthesis and characterization of cross-linked water-dispersible conjugated polymer nanoparticles
(2012) Ekiz, Şeyma
In this study, a novel synthetic method was demonstrated for the water-dispersible crosslinked light-emitting conjugated polymer nanoparticles with enhanced stability. In order to synthesize the novel conjugated polymer nanoparticles, thiophene-based monomers were synthesized with different functional groups such as bromine, hydroxyl and azide groups. These monomers were characterized by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. After the synthesis of the monomers, various polymers were synthesized via Suzuki coupling and oxidative polymerization. Their structural and optical properties were fully characterized by spectroscopic techniques such as 1H-NMR spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). Finally, crosslinked conjugated polymer nanoparticles were synthesized by a diaminoalkyne crosslinker and various useful functional groups were introduced to the nanoparticles such as triazoles and amine groups. Incorporation of the hydrophilic functional groups to the conjugated polymer nanoparticles resulted with patchy, janus-like nanoparticles. CB6 was used as a catalyst for the first time in nanoparticle synthesis for 1,3-azide alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition which formed a conjugated polymer-based nanosized rotaxanes. Crosslinking of the conjugated polymer nanoparticles was also achieved by the irradiation of the nanoparticles under UV light in order to get shape-persistent nanoparticles. Various functional groups of the conjugated polymer nanoparticles make them highly versatile for biological studies such as cell imaging and drug delivery in biological systems. Synthesized nanoparticles were fully characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurement, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR spectroscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy.