ALBERT

Description: A biopolymer-based aerogel has been developed to become one of the most potentially utilized materials in different biomedical applications. The biopolymer-based aerogel has unique physical, chemical, and mechanical properties and these properties are used in tissue engineering, biosensing, diagnostic, medical implant and drug delivery applications. Biocompatible and non-toxic biopolymers such as chitosan, cellulose and alginates have been used to deliver antibiotics, plants extract, essential oils and metallic nanoparticles. Antibacterial aerogels have been used in superficial and chronic wound healing as dressing sheets. This review critically analyses the utilization of biopolymer-based aerogels in antibacterial delivery. The analysis shows the relationship between their properties and their applications in the wound healing process. Furthermore, highlights of the potentials, challenges and proposition of the application of biopolymer-based aerogels is explored.

Description: Using oil palm trunk (OPT) layered with empty fruit bunch (EFB), so-called hybrid plywood enhanced with palm oil ash nanoparticles, with phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin as a binder, was produced in this study. The phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins filled with different loading of oil palm ash (OPA) nanoparticles were prepared and used as glue for layers of the oil palm trunk (OPT) veneer and empty fruit bunch fibre mat. The resulting hybrid plywood produced was characterised. The physical, mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties of the hybrid plywood panels were investigated. The results obtained showed that the presence of OPA nanoparticles significantly affected the physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the plywood panels. Significant improvements in dimension from water absorption and thickness swelling experiments were obtained for the plywood panels with the highest OPA nanoparticles loading in PF resin. The mechanical properties indicated that plywood composites showed improvement in flexural, shear, and impact properties until a certain loading of OPA nanoparticles in PF resin. Fracture surface morphology also showed the effectiveness of OPA nanoparticles in the reduction of layer breakage due to force and stress distribution. The thermal stability performance showed that PF filled OPA nanoparticles contributed to the thermal stability of the plywood panels. Therefore, the results obtained in this study showed that OPA nanoparticles certainly improved the characteristic of the hybrid plywood.

Description: Biopolymers have been used as a replacement material for synthetic polymers in scaffold forming due to its biocompatibility and nontoxic properties. Production of scaffold for tissue repair is a major part of tissue engineering. Tissue engineering techniques for scaffold forming with cellulose-based material is at the forefront of present-day research. Micro- and nanocellulose-based materials are at the forefront of scientific development in the areas of biomedical engineering. Cellulose in scaffold forming has attracted a lot of attention because of its availability and toxicity properties. The discovery of nanocellulose has further improved the usability of cellulose as a reinforcement in biopolymers intended for scaffold fabrication. Its unique physical, chemical, mechanical, and biological properties offer some important advantages over synthetic polymer materials. This review presents a critical overview of micro- and nanoscale cellulose-based materials used for scaffold preparation. It also analyses the relationship between the method of fabrication and properties of the fabricated scaffold. The review concludes with future potential research on cellulose micro- and nano-based scaffolds. The review provides an up-to-date summary of the status and future prospective applications of micro- and nanocellulose-based scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Description: Cellulose nanomaterials from plant fibre provide various potential applications (i.e., biomedical, automotive, packaging, etc.). The biomedical application of nanocellulose isolated from plant fibre, which is a carbohydrate-based source, is very viable in the 21st century. The essential characteristics of plant fibre-based nanocellulose, which include its molecular, tensile and mechanical properties, as well as its biodegradability potential, have been widely explored for functional materials in the preparation of aerogel. Plant cellulose nano fibre (CNF)-based aerogels are novel functional materials that have attracted remarkable interest. In recent years, CNF aerogel has been extensively used in the biomedical field due to its biocompatibility, renewability and biodegradability. The effective surface area of CNFs influences broad applications in biological and medical studies such as sustainable antibiotic delivery for wound healing, the preparation of scaffolds for tissue cultures, the development of drug delivery systems, biosensing and an antimicrobial film for wound healing. Many researchers have a growing interest in using CNF-based aerogels in the mentioned applications. The application of cellulose-based materials is widely reported in the literature. However, only a few studies discuss the potential of cellulose nanofibre aerogel in detail. The potential applications of CNF aerogel include composites, organic–inorganic hybrids, gels, foams, aerogels/xerogels, coatings and nano-paper, bioactive and wound dressing materials and bioconversion. The potential applications of CNF have rarely been a subject of extensive review. Thus, extensive studies to develop materials with cheaper and better properties, high prospects and effectiveness for many applications are the focus of the present work. The present review focuses on the evolution of aerogels via characterisation studies on the isolation of CNF-based aerogels. The study concludes with a description of the potential and challenges of developing sustainable materials for biomedical applications.

Description: In previous research, a polylactic chitin starch composite was prepared without the use of a solvent to enhance the miscibility. In this study, a polylactic acid (PLA) chitin starch composite was produced with chloroform as a plasticizer in the ratio 1:10. The blending of chitin and starch with PLA ranges from 2% to 8%. Tensile strength, impact, thermogravimetry analysis-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (TGA)-FTIR, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to test the thermomechanical properties. Also, the morphological properties, water absorption, and wear rate of the material was observed. The results showed that the tensile strength, yield strength, and impact strength were improved compared to the pure polylactic acid. Also, the elastic modulus of the samples increased, but were lower compared to that of the pure polylactic acid. The result of the fractured surface morphology showed good miscibility of the blending, which accounted for the good mechanical properties recorded in the study. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative thermogravimetric analysis DTA show a single degradation and peak respectively, which is also shown in the glass temperature measures from the DSC analysis. The water absorption test shows that the water absorption rate increases with starch content and the wear rate recorded sample A (92% P/8% C) as the highest. The high miscibility projected was achieved with no void, with the use of chloroform as a plasticizer.

Description: The exponential increase in textile cotton wastes generation and the ineffective processing mechanism to mitigate its environmental impact by developing functional materials with unique properties for geotechnical applications, wastewater, packaging, and biomedical engineering have become emerging global concerns among researchers. A comprehensive study of a processed cotton fibres isolation technique and their applications are highlighted in this review. Surface modification of cotton wastes fibre increases the adsorption of dyes and heavy metals removal from wastewater. Cotton wastes fibres have demonstrated high adsorption capacity for the removal of recalcitrant pollutants in wastewater. Cotton wastes fibres have found remarkable application in slope amendments, reinforcement of expansive soils and building materials, and a proven source for isolation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). Several research work on the use of cotton waste for functional application rather than disposal has been done. However, no review study has discussed the potentials of cotton wastes from source (Micro-Nano) to application. This review critically analyses novel isolation techniques of CNC from cotton wastes with an in-depth study of a parameter variation effect on their yield. Different pretreatment techniques and efficiency were discussed. From the analysis, chemical pretreatment is considered the most efficient extraction of CNCs from cotton wastes. The pretreatment strategies can suffer variation in process conditions, resulting in distortion in the extracted cellulose’s crystallinity. Acid hydrolysis using sulfuric acid is the most used extraction process for cotton wastes-based CNC. A combined pretreatment process, such as sonication and hydrolysis, increases the crystallinity of cotton-based CNCs. The improvement of the reinforced matrix interface of textile fibres is required for improved packaging and biomedical applications for the sustainability of cotton-based CNCs.

Description: Developing robust and biodegradable biopolymer films based on macroalgae is a challenging task because of its inadequate mechanical strength and poor moisture barrier attribute to its hydrophilic nature. A promising and sustainable approach to overcome this challenge is to reinforce the biopolymer film with polysaccharide microfibre (microcrystalline cellulose) derived from Gigantochloa levis bamboo (GL-MCC). Eucheuma cottonii macroalgae were used for the development of biopolymer films without further extraction and purification, which was considered economical and easy. The mechanical, water contact angle (WCA), water absorption capacity (WSC), and thermal behaviour of macroalgae-based biopolymer films revealed that the inclusions of GL-MCC significantly enhanced the durability, moisture barrier, and thermal stability of the biopolymer films. The enhancement is ascribed to the interaction between macroalgae and GL-MCC due to high compatibility. Moreover, the incorporation of GL-MCC successfully increased the rigidity of the macroalgae-based biopolymer films against microorganism and moisture attack, but remain biodegradable and environmental-friendly. The developed biodegradable macroalgae/GL-MCC biopolymer films can potentially be used as packaging materials.

Description: Biopolymers have gained tremendous attention in many daily life applications, including medical applications, in the past few years. Obstetrics and gynecology are two fields dealing with sensitive parts of the woman’s body and her newborn baby, which are normally associated with many issues such as toxicity, infections, and even gene alterations. Medical professions that use screening, examination, pre, and post-operation materials should benefit from a better understanding of each type of material’s characteristics, health, and even environmental effects. The underlying principles of biopolymer-based materials for different obstetric and gynecologic applications may discover various advantages and benefits of using such materials. This review presents the health impact of conventional polymer-based materials on pregnant women’s health and highlights the potential use of biopolymers as a safer option. The recent works on utilizing different biopolymer-based materials in obstetric and gynecologic are presented in this review, which includes suture materials in obstetric and gynecologic surgeries, cosmetic and personal care products, vaginal health, and drug delivery; as well as a wound dressing and healing materials. This review highlights the main issues and challenges of biopolymers in obstetric and gynecologic applications.

Description: The degradation and mechanical properties of potential polymeric materials used for green manufacturing are significant determinants. In this study, cellulose nanofibre was prepared from Schizostachyum brachycladum bamboo and used as reinforcement in the PLA/chitosan matrix using melt extrusion and compression moulding method. The cellulose nanofibre(CNF) was isolated using supercritical carbon dioxide and high-pressure homogenisation. The isolated CNF was characterised with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR, zeta potential and particle size analysis. The mechanical, physical, and degradation properties of the resulting biocomposite were studied with moisture content, density, thickness swelling, tensile, flexural, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry, and biodegradability analysis. The TEM, FT-IR, and particle size results showed successful isolation of cellulose nanofibre using this method. The result showed that the physical, mechanical, and degradation properties of PLA/chitosan/CNF biocomposite were significantly enhanced with cellulose nanofibre. The density, thickness swelling, and moisture content increased with the addition of CNF. Also, tensile strength and modulus; flexural strength and modulus increased; while the elongation reduced. The carbon residue from the thermal degradation and the glass transition temperature of the PLA/chitosan/CNF biocomposite was observed to increase with the addition of CNF. The result showed that the biocomposite has potential for green and sustainable industrial application.