Publications

Tissue engineering is nowadays a powerful tool to restore damaged tissues and recover their normal functionality. Advantages over other current methods are well established, although a continuous evolution is still necessary to improve the final performance and the range of applications. Trends are nowadays focused on the development of multifunctional scaffolds with hierarchical structures and the capability to render a sustained delivery of bioactive molecules under an appropriate stimulus. Nanocomposites incorporating hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAp NPs) have a predominant role in bone tissue regeneration due to their high capacity to enhance osteoinduction, osteoconduction, and osteointegration, as well as their encapsulation efficiency and protection capability of bioactive agents. Selection of appropriated polymeric matrices is fundamental and consequently great efforts have been invested to increase the range of properties of available materials through copolymerization, blending, or combining structures constituted by different materials. Scaffolds can be obtained from different processes that differ in characteristics, such as texture or porosity. Probably, electrospinning has the greater relevance, since the obtained nanofiber membranes have a great similarity with the extracellular matrix and, in addition, they can easily incorporate functional and bioactive compounds. Coaxial and emulsion electrospinning processes appear ideal to generate complex systems able to incorporate highly different agents. The present review is mainly focused on the recent works performed with Hap-loaded scaffolds having at least one structural layer composed of core/shell nanofibers.

JTD Keywords: bone tissue, coaxial electrospinning, composite nanofibers, drug-release behavior, emulsion electrospinning, hydroxyapatite, in-vitro evaluation, mechanical-properties, osteogenic differentiation, pickering emulsions, protein adsorption, structured scaffolds, surface-initiated polymerization, tissue regeneration, Bone tissue, Coaxial electrospinning, Emulsion electrospinning, Hydroxyapatite, Multifunctional scaffolds, Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) phb patches, Tissue regeneration

Artificial micro-/nano-motors are tiny machines as newly emerging tools capable of achieving numerous tasks. In principle, the self-phoretic motions require asymmetric structures in geometry and chemistry. However, conventional production techniques suffered from complex and time consuming multi-step process in low uniformity, and difficult to endow multi-functions into motors. This work disclosed a continuous-flow synthesis of triple-responsive (thermophoretic, chemical and magnetic movement) nano-motors (m-SiO2/Fe3O4-Pdop/Pt) via microfluidic Pickering emulsification in a process of integrated and scalable manner. The droplet microfluidic process allows efficient self-assembly of the silica nanoparticles surrounding the spherical interface of resin droplet, rendering excellent Pickering efficiency and reproducibility, and followed by anisotropic decoration of polydopamine (Pdop) and Pt catalyst in a serial flow process. The obtained Janus nanoparticles reveal double- or triple-responsive self-propulsions with synergic mobility by combining thermophoresis powered by light, catalytic driven motion in H2O2 or magnetic movement by magnet. Further, a non-metallic polydopamine based thermophoretic motion as well as an automated nano-cleaner for rapid water purification by dye removal are convincingly functioned. Finally, this novel integrated flow strategy proves a scalable manufacturing production (> 0.7 g hr−1) of the nano-motors using inexpensive single microreactor, fulfilling quantitative and qualitative needs for versatile applications.

JTD Keywords: Microfluidics Pickering emulsions, Triple-responsive motor, Adsorbent