Development of Composite Nanostructured Electrodes for Water Desalination via Membrane Capacitive Deionization.

Novel two-layer nanostructured electrodes are successfully prepared for their application in membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) processes. Nanostructured carbonaceous materials such as graphene oxide (GO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), as well as activated carbon (AC) are dispersed in a solution of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), mixed with polyacrylic acid (PAA) or polydimethyldiallylammonium chloride (PDMDAAC), and subsequently cast on the top surface of an AC-based modified graphite electrode to form a thin composite layer that is cross-linked with glutaraldehyde (GA). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) is performed to investigate the electrochemical properties of the composite electrodes and desalination experiments are conducted in batch mode using a MCDI unit cell to investigate the effects of i) the nanostructured carbonaceous material, ii) its concentration in the polymer blend, and iii) the molecular weight of the polymers on the desalination efficiency of the system. Comparative studies with commercial membranes are performed proving that the composite nanostructured electrodes are more efficient in salt removal. The improved performance of the composite electrodes is attributed to the ion exchange properties of the selected polymers and the increased specific capacitance of the nanostructured carbonaceous materials. This research paves the way for wider application of MCDI in water desalination.

Biomimetic and biodegradable cellulose acetate scaffolds loaded with dexamethasone for bone implants.

There is, as a matter of fact, an ever increasing number of patients requiring total hip replacement (Pabinger, C.; Geissler, A. Osteoarthritis Cartilage2014,22, 734-741). Implant-associated acute inflammations after an invasive orthopedic surgery are one of the major causes of implant failure. In addition, there are instability, aseptic loosening, infection, metallosis and fracture (Melvin, J. S.; Karthikeyan, T.; Cope, R.; Fehring, T. K. J. Arthroplasty2014,29, 1285-1288). In this work, a drug-delivery nanoplatform system consisting of polymeric celluloce acetate (CA) scaffolds loaded with dexamethasone was fabricated through electrospinning. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated the successful fabrication of these structures. Cytotoxicity studies were performed by using MTT assay, methylene-blue staining and SEM fixation and showed very good cell adhesion and proliferation, indicating the cytocompatibility of these fibrous scaffolds. Drug-release kinetics was measured for the evaluation of a controllable and sustained release of anti-inflammatory drug onto the engineered implants and degradation study was conducted in order to assess the mass loss of polymers. This drug-delivery nanoplatform as coating on titanium implants may be a promising approach not only to alleviate but also to prevent implant-associated acute inflammations along with a simultaneous controlled release of the drug.