Revealing how maltodextrin-containing droplets dry using optical coherence tomography.

Properties of powders produced from drying solute-containing droplets arise from the dynamic redistribution of solute during drying. While insights on the dynamic redistribution are instrumental for the rational design of powders and for the optimized operation of equipment such as spray dryers, experimental techniques that allow measuring the spatio-temporal concentration of solute in drying droplets are scarce. In this work, we explore and demonstrate the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to measure the spatio-temporal concentration of solute in drying droplets and the development of a solidifying shell at the liquid-air interface, using aqueous droplets of maltodextrin as a model system. This work provides a solid foundation for the use of OCT to quantify the dynamic redistribution of solute and link it to the development of the morphology of the produced particles and agglomerates.

The application of atomic layer deposition in the production of sorbents for 99Mo/99mTc generator.

New production routes for 99Mo are steadily gaining importance. However, the obtained specific activity is much lower than currently produced by the fission of U-235. To be able to supply hospitals with 99Mo/99mTc generators with the desired activity, the adsorption capacity of the column material should be increased. In this paper we have investigated whether the gas phase coating technique Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), which can deposit ultra-thin layers on high surface area materials, can be used to attain materials with high adsorption capacity for 99Mo. For this purpose, ALD was applied on a silica-core sorbent material to coat it with a thin layer of alumina. This sorbent material shows to have a maximum adsorption capacity of 120 mg/g and has a99mTc elution efficiency of 55 ± 2% based on 3 executive elutions.

64Cu enrichment using the Szilard-Chalmers effect - The influence of γ-dose.

Cu is an important trace metal which plays a role in many biological processes. The radioisotope 64Cu is often used to study such processes. Furthermore, 64Cu finds applications in cancer diagnostics as well as therapy. For all of these applications 64Cu having high specific activity is needed. 64Cu can be produced in cyclotrons or in nuclear reactors. In this paper we study the effect of gamma dose on the production of 64Cu according to the Szilard-Chalmers reaction using Cu(II)-phthalocyanine as a target. For this purpose, irradiations were performed in the nuclear reactor of the Delft University of Technology using a novel irradiation facility helping to limit the dose produced by gammas present in the reactor pool. The obtained 64Cu activity yield was in general above 60% in accordance to the theoretical expected value. An increase in gamma dose has no significant influence on the obtained activity yield but increases the loss of Cu from Cu(II)-phthalocyanine up to 0.9% and hence decreases the specific activity that can be obtained. However, without optimisation, when reducing the gamma dose specific activities in the order of 30 TBq/g can be achieved.

Atomic scale surface engineering of micro- to nano-sized pharmaceutical particles for drug delivery applications.

Atomic layer deposition on pharmaceutical particles for drug delivery applications is demonstrated using assisted fluidized bed dry powder processing. Complete and conformal layering is achieved on particle sizes from the lower micron to upper nanometer range under near ambient conditions. As few as 2-14 atomic alumina layers alter particle properties: dissolution, dispersibility and heat transfer.

Atomic and molecular layer deposition: off the beaten track.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a gas-phase deposition technique that, by relying on self-terminating surface chemistry, enables the control of the amount of deposited material down to the atomic level. While mostly used in semiconductor technology for the deposition of ceramic oxides and nitrides on wafers, ALD lends itself to the deposition of a wealth of materials on virtually every substrate. In particular, ALD and its organic counterpart molecular layer deposition (MLD), have opened up attractive avenues for the synthesis of novel nanostructured materials. However, as most ALD processes were developed and optimized for semiconductor technology, these might not be optimal for applications in fields such as catalysis, energy storage, and health. For this reason, novel applications for ALD often require new surface chemistries, process conditions, and reactor types. As a result, recent developments in ALD technology have marked a considerable departure from the standard set by well-established ALD processes. The aim of this review is twofold: firstly, to capture the recent departure of ALD from its original development; and secondly, to pinpoint the unexplored paths through which ALD can advance further in terms of synthesis of novel materials. To that end, we provide a review of the recent developments of ALD and MLD of materials that are gaining increasing attention on various substrates, with particular emphasis on high-surface-area substrates. Furthermore, we present a critical review of the effects of the process conditions, namely, temperature, pressure, and time on ALD growth. Finally, we also give a brief overview of the recent advances in ALD reactors and energy-enhanced ALD processes.

Functionalization of lactose as a biological carrier for bovine serum albumin by electrospraying.

Electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) is an attractive technique to make new types of composite particles for pharmaceutical use. The aim of this work is to prove that EHDA can be successfully used to attach nano/micro-particles of protein to lactose, the commonly used excipient for pulmonary delivery, keeping all the biological properties of the protein after dissolution of the complex. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as a model protein. The atomization of BSA was tested with two different solvents, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ethanol. The process using DMSO resulted in the formation of a thin layer of protein while the tests using ethanol resulted in the formation of spherical particles with mean diameters around 700 nm. Ethanol as solvent was also used to produce a composite formed by BSA adsorbed at the surface of lactose by electrostatic forces. No denaturation or significant conformational changes of the protein were observed, although an increase in the exposition of the lactose to the jet of the solution decreases the reproducibility of the method. Due to the absence of denaturation in the model protein, this new approach can be tested for the production of new formulations for dry powders for drug delivery systems.

Power-law distribution of pressure fluctuations in multiphase flow.

Bubbling fluidized beds are granular systems, in which a deep layer of particles is set in motion by a vertical gas stream, with the excess gas rising as bubbles through the bed. We show that pressure fluctuations in such a system have non-Gaussian statistics. The probability density function has a power-law drop-off and is very well represented by a Tsallis distribution. Its shape is explained through the folding of the Gaussian distribution of pressure fluctuations produced by a monodisperse set of bubbles, onto the actual distribution of bubble sizes in the bed, assuming that bubbles coalesce via a Smoluchowski-type aggregation process. Therefore, the Tsallis statistics arise as a result of bubble polydispersity, rather than system nonextensivity.