In recent years, employing advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) as a means of wastewater remediation has emerged as a promising route towards maintaining a sustainable global water management program. The heterogeneous photocatalytic oxidation process has been of particular interest due to the prospective of utilizing solar radiation as the driving force behind the degradation of pollutants. Of the photocatalyst studied to date, TiO2 remains the most attractive material for environmental applications due to its affordability, stability, biocompatibility and high quantum yield. A key draw back however is roughly only 5% of solar radiation incident on earth can provide the energy required (3.0-3.2 eV) to generate the electron-hole pairs necessary for photo-oxidation. As a means to improve the process under solar irradiance, optical properties such as surface plasmon resonance of metallic nanoparticles and upconversion luminescence of rare earth ions have been exploited for improved light harvesting as well as the generation of more usable UV light from lower energy photons. In order to explore these phenomena and their role in the enhancement of this AOP, the photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes was studied under various conditions employing Degussa P25 TiO2 as the photocatalyst. Ag nanocubes, Ag-Pd core-shell nanoparticles and YAG:Yb+3,Er+3 served as the dopants for the various studies which resulted in enhanced degradation rates, insight into the applicability of utilizing Yb+3 as sensitizing ion under solar radiation and a novel core-shell nanoparticle synthesis.

The purpose of this research was to explore two ways of the application of chitosan, a biopolymer, for ink jet printing of textiles. 1) To apply chitosan as a post-treatment on the fabric ink jet printed with pigment based inks for the fixation of pigments on the fabric. 2) To incorporate chitosan as a binder in pigment based ink jet ink formulations. The incorporation of chitosan was carried out in two ways. 1) Direct addition of chitosan into the ink formulations containing surface modified pigments. 2) Preparation of chitosan encapsulated pigment nanoparticles using complex coacervation technique and using these nanoparticles for the formulation of ink jet ink. The degree of deacetylation (DD) was determined using FTIR spectroscopy. Various protocols proposed by researchers were used to determine the DD of chitosan samples used in the present study. The protocol proposed by Raut was found to be fairly accurate in determining the DD of chitosan samples. The molecular weight of chitosan was estimated using dilute solution viscometry method. The characterisation of the film forming ability of chitosan was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The colour strength (K/S), colour difference, colour characteristics and colour fastness to laundering and rubbing of ink jet printed fabrics post treated with chitosan were evaluated using standard methods. Post-treatment (pad-dry-cure method) of cotton fabric ink jet printed with pigment based inks revealed that chitosan could effectively fix the pigments on cotton compared to the commercial textile binders and the water-soluble derivative of chitosan. The chemical interaction between chitosan and cotton fabric was illustrated by FTIR-ATR analysis and through determination of carboxyl group content. The ink jet printed cotton fabric post treated with 3gpl chitosan (MW 156,156) maintained almost 86% of bacterial reduction against Klebsiella Pneumoniae even after 50 launderings. Inks containing chitosan were formulated and were found to be stable in terms of mean particle size and viscosity over a period of one month and for 4 freeze/thaw cycles. A magenta ink containing chitosan was selected for ink jet printing of cotton fabric. It was found that the DF was around 97% for magenta ink containing chitosan compared to around 53% fixation for magenta ink without chitosan on cotton fabric. Surface modified carbon black pigment with carboxylated (COO-) surface functionality was selected to prepare chitosan encapsulated pigment nanoparticles by complex coacervation technique. Chitosan encapsulated pigment nanoparticles with mean particle size diameter of 876 nm and 742 nm were formed when 5 ml of 0.1% w/v pigment was mixed with 2ml and 3ml of 0.1% w/v chitosan, respectively. However, no correlation was found between the particle size of the nanoparticles formed and the concentration of chitosan. The DF with ink containing chitosan encapsulated pigment nanoparticles was found to be around 98% while the blank ink with only surface modified carbon black pigment showed 44% fixation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

No description available.

<p>The work presented in this thesis has been focus on developing the idea of mesoreactor based on mesoporous silica SBA-15. SBA-15 is a mesoporous material with highly ordered pore structure and tailorable pore sizes with narrow sizes distribution. SBA-15 has been utilized to provide reaction sites for electroless copper deposition and the support of the synthesized copper nanoparticles. Oxidation processes have been conducted in order to improve the weak ion-exchange capability of as-synthesized silica surfaces. The efficiency of oxidation processes have been studied through various oxidizing agents and time. The surface treatments of mesoporous silica have been proofed to affect the distribution of the nanoparticles. Copper nanoparticles of 5 nm with narrow size distribution have been synthesized without the use of any capping agents and are homogeneously embedded in the silica matrix.</p>

Nanoscale drug delivery systems have a great impact in current medical field. These carriers have the potential to improve the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of various medicinal products. A broad variety of different lipid based carriers had been developed and used as delivery systems in the past decades. This dissertation focused on the development of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) as delivery systems for a chemotherapeutic agent, docetaxel, and the use of liposomes as a carrier for recombinant protein vaccines. Docetaxel is a potent anticancer drug. However, there continues to be a need for alternative docetaxel delivery systems to improve its efficacy. Docetaxel nanoparticles comprised of lecithin as the main component were engineered using two methods, the emulsion precursor method and the solvent emulsification/evaporation method. Docetaxel in nanoparticles were more effective in killing tumor cells in culture than docetaxel solution. The intravenously injected docetaxel-nanoparticles increased the accumulation of docetaxel in tumors in mice. When administered by intravenous injection or oral routes, docetaxel-nanoparticles showed antitumor activity in tumor-bearing mice. The lecithin-based nanoparticles have the potential to be a novel biocompatible and efficacious delivery system for docetaxel. Liposomes, a well-known lipid based carrier, have been investigated extensively as a vaccine delivery system. The adjuvant activities of liposomes with different net surface charges (neutral, positive, or negative) were evaluated when simply admixed with protein antigens. Immunization study in mice after subcutaneously injection of different net charged liposomes showed different antibody responses, depending on the protein antigens. Antigens (OVA, PA) admixed with the negatively charged liposomes prepared with phospholipid, DOPA, induced a strong and functional antibody response comparable to the positively charged liposomes prepared with DOTAP lipid. The negatively charged DOPA liposomes admixed with OVA also induced OVA-specific CD8��� cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses and significantly delayed the growth of OVA-expressing B16-OVA melanoma in a mouse model. The adjuvant activity of the negatively charged liposomes may be related to the liposome's ability (i) to upregulate the expression of molecules related to the activation and maturation of antigen-presenting cells and (ii) to slightly facilitate the uptake of the antigens by antigen-presenting cells. Simply admixing certain negatively charged liposomes with certain protein antigens of interest may represent a novel platform for vaccine development. / Graduation date: 2012 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from Sept. 6, 2011 - Sept. 6, 2012

Near IR (NIR) sensitive Au-Au₂S nanoparticles were prepared by mixing HAuCl₄ and Na₂S in aqueous solutions. An anti-tumor drug, cis-platin, was adsorbed onto Au-Au₂S nanoparticle surface via the 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid layers. The results showed that the degree of adsorption of cis-platin onto Au-Au₂S nanoparticles was controlled by the pH value of solution, and the drug release was sensitive to NIR irradiation. The cis-platin loaded Au-Au₂S nanoparticles can be potentially applied as NIR activated drug delivery carrier. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

A magnetic target drug delivery system consisting of biodegradable polymeric microspheres (poly D, L-lactic acid) loaded with magnetite nanoparticles (10-100 nm) and anticancer drug (paclitaxel) was studied. The magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical precipitation. The as-synthesized magnetite nanoparticles were subsequently introduced into a mixture of polymer magnetic polymeric composite particles were investigated and further correlated with the reaction parameters. It was found that the size and characteristics of the polymeric composite particles depended on the viscosity of the polymer solution. Preliminary drug release experiments showed that the loaded drug was released with the degradation of the polymer. The release rates could be enhanced by an oscillating external magnetic field. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

We have discovered that the current protocols to assemble Au nanoparticles based on DNA hybridization do not work well with the small metal nanoparticles (e.g. 5 nm Au, 3.6 nm Pt and 3.2 nm Ru particles). Further investigations revealed the presence of strong interaction between the oligonucleotide backbone and the surface of the small metal nanoparticles. The oligonucleotides in this case are recumbent on the particle surface and are therefore not optimally oriented for hybridization. The nonspecific adsorption of oligonucleotides on small metal nanoparticles must be overcome before DNA hybridization can be accepted as a general assembly method. Two methods have been suggested as possible solutions to this problem. One is based on the use of stabilizer molecules which compete with the oligonucleotides for adsorption on the metal nanoparticle surface. Unfortunately, the reported success of this approach in small Au nanoparticles (using K₂BSPP) and Au films (using 6-mercapto-1-hexanol) could not be extended to the assembly of Pt and Ru nanoparticles by DNA hybridization. The second approach is to simply use larger metal particles. Indeed most reports on the DNA hybridization induced assembly of Au nanoparticles have made use of relatively large particles (>10 nm), hinting at a weaker non-specific interaction between the oligonucleotides and large Au nanoparticles. However, most current methods of nanoparticle synthesis are optimized to produce metal nanoparticles only within a narrow size range. We find that core-shell nanoparticles formed by the seeded growth method may be used to artificially enlarge the size of the metal particles to reduce the nonspecific binding of oligonucleotides. We demonstrate herein a core-shell assisted growth method to assemble Pt and Ru nanoparticles by DNA hybridization. This method involves firstly synthesizing approximately 16 nm core-shell Ag-Pt and 21 nm core-shell Au-Ru nanoparticles from 9.6 nm Ag seeds and 17.2 nm Au seeds respectively by the seed-mediated growth method. The core-shell nanoparticles were then functionalized by complementary thiolated oligonucleotides followed by aging in 0.2 M PBS buffer for 6 hours. The DNA hybridization induced bimetallic assembly of Pt and Ru nanoparticles could then be carried out in 0.3 M PBS buffer for 10 hours. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

We present a systematic methodology to functionalize magnetic nanoparticles through surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The magnetite nanoparticles are prepared according to the method proposed by Sun et al. (2004), which leads to a monodisperse population of ~ 6 nm particles stabilized by oleic acid. The functionalization of the nanoparticles has been performed by transforming particles into macro-initiators for the ATRP, and to achieve this two different routes have been explored. The first one is the ligand-exchange method, which consists of replacing some oleic acid molecules adsorbed on the particle surface with molecules that act as an initiator for ATRP. The second method consists in using the addition reaction of bromine to the oleic acid double bond, which turns the oleic acid itself into an initiator for the ATRP. We have then grown polymer brushes of a variety of acrylic polymers on the particles, including polyisopropylacrylamide and polyacrylic acid. The nanoparticles so functionalized are water soluble and show responsive behavior: either temperature responsive behavior when polyisopropylacrylamide is grown from the surface or PH responsive in the case of polyacrylic acid. This methodology has potential applications in the control of clustering of magnetic nanoparticles. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)