Topic Review
Enhancing Weathering Resistance of Wood
Although weathering is primarily a surface phenomenon, it is an important issue for wood products as it affects their appearance, service life, and wood-coating performance. To encourage the use of wood as a material for joinery and other building components, the results of research into increasing the weathering resistance of wood are extremely significant. The development of weathering protection methods is of great importance to reduce the maintenance requirements for wood exposed outdoors and can have a major environmental impact.
  • 657
  • 30 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Environmental Ageing of Polymers and Polymer Composites
Polymers and polymer composites are often exposed to elevated temperatures, mechanical stress, water and humid air environments, where their performance is negatively impacted by environmental ageing, reducing their service lifetime.
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Enzyme-Catalyzed Synthesis of Polyesters
Polyester is a kind of polymer composed of ester bond-linked polybasic acids and polyol. This type of polymer has a wide range of applications in various industries, such as automotive, furniture, coatings, packaging, and biomedical. The traditional process of synthesizing polyester mainly uses metal catalyst polymerization under high-temperature. This condition may have problems with metal residue and undesired side reactions. As an alternative, enzyme-catalyzed polymerization is evolving rapidly due to the metal-free residue, satisfactory biocompatibility, and mild reaction conditions.   
  • 595
  • 20 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Evaluation of PIL Graft Conjugates
In vitro cytotoxicity of polymer-carriers, which in the side chains contain the cholinum ionic liquid units with chloride (Cl) or pharmaceutical anions dedicated for antituberculosis therapy, i.e., p-aminosalicylate (PAS) and clavulanate (CLV), was investigated. The carriers and drug conjugates were examined against human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) and adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells (A549) as an experimental model cancer cell line possibly coexisting in tuberculosis. The cytotoxicity was evaluated by MTT test and confluency index, as well as by the cytometric analyses, including Annexin-V FITC apoptosis assay. The polymer systems showed supporting activity towards the normal cells and no tumor progress, especially at the highest concentration (100 μg/mL). The analysis of cell death did not show meaningful changes in the case of the BEAS-2B, whereas in the A549 cell line, the cytostatic activity was observed, especially for the drug-free carriers, causing death in up to 80% of cells. This can be regulated by the polymer structure, including the content of cationic units, side-chain length and density, as well as the type and content of pharmaceutical anions. The results of MTT tests, confluency, as well as cytometric analyses, distinguished the polymer systems with Cl/PAS/CLV containing 26% of grafting degree and 43% of ionic units or 46% of grafting degree and 18% of ionic units as the optimal systems.
  • 444
  • 11 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Excipients in Pharmaceutical Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing (AM), popularly known as three-dimensional printing (3DP), has been widely applied to the fabrication of prototypes through to functional parts in various manufacturing areas, including the pharmaceutical industry. The term “3D printing” technically refers to a broad collection of additive technologies based on the deposition of materials, like creating objects from the bottom up or layer by layer. Despite the technical differentiation between the terms, “3D printing” has become the common term.
  • 306
  • 28 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Exploring Bioinspired Polymer Actuators via Electrospinning
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for the development of novel materials and devices. In particular, polymer actuators that mimic the movements and functions of natural organisms have been of great interest due to their potential applications in various fields, such as biomedical engineering, soft robotics, and energy harvesting. The development and actuation performance of electrospun fibrous meshes with the advantages of high permeability, surface area, and easy functional modification, has received extensive attention from researchers. 
  • 196
  • 23 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Fabrication-4D-Printed Shape Memory Polymers
Additive manufacturing (AM) is the process through which components/structures are produced layer-by-layer. In this context, 4D printing combines 3D printing with time so that this combination results in additively manufactured components that respond to external stimuli and, consequently, change their shape/volume or modify their mechanical properties. Therefore, 4D printing uses shape-memory materials that react to external stimuli such as pH, humidity, and temperature. Among the possible materials with shape memory effect (SME), the most suitable for additive manufacturing are shape memory polymers (SMPs).
  • 625
  • 27 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Fiber–Hydrogel Composites for Wound Healing
The structural resemblance of fiber–hydrogel composites to natural tissues has been a driving force for the optimization and exploration of these systems in biomedicine. Indeed, the combination of hydrogel-forming techniques and fiber spinning approaches has been crucial in the development of scaffolding systems with improved mechanical strength and medicinal properties.
  • 554
  • 11 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Filled Polymers and DMA
Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) provides reliable information about the viscoelastic behavior of neat and filled polymers. The properties of filled polymers are relevant to different industries as protective organic coatings, composites etc. Interfacial interactions in filled polymers play an important role in determining their bulk properties and performance during service life. In this entry, studies which used DMA to characterize the interfacial interactions in filled polymers have been reviewed.
  • 704
  • 26 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Fireproof Nanocomposite Polyurethane Foams
First introduced in 1954, polyurethane foams rapidly became popular because of light weight, high chemical stability, and outstanding sound and thermal insulation properties. Currently, polyurethane foam is widely applied in industrial and household products. Despite tremendous progress in the development of various formulations of versatile foams, their use is hindered due to high flammability. Fire retardant additives can be introduced into polyurethane foams to enhance their fireproof properties. Nanoscale materials employed as fire-retardant components of polyurethane foams have the potential to overcome this problem.
  • 233
  • 24 May 2023
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