The effect of incorporation of montmorillonite layered silicate (MLS) on poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) matrix was investigated. MLS was added in varying concentration of 1 to 5 weight percent in the PET matrix. DSC and polarized optical microscopy were used to determine the crystallization effects of MLS addition. Non isothermal crystallization kinetics showed that the melting temperature and crystallization temperature decrease as the MLS percent increases. This delayed crystallization along with the irregular spherulitic shape indicates hindered crystallization in the presence of MLS platelets. The influence of this morphology was related with the fracture toughness of PET nanocomposites using essential work of fracture coupled with the infra red (IR) thermography. Both the essential as well as non essential work of fracture decreased on addition of MLS with nanocomposite showing reduced toughness.

Recently, laser scribed graphene (LSG) technology has shown great potential for the development of a plethora of sensing platforms due to its high sensitivity, 3D porous structure, and flexibility. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have shown high potential as recognition elements for many applications such as biosensing. Hence, we report in this thesis a novel biosensing platform that utilizes nanostructured gold to enhance the performance of LSG sensors coupled with a biomimetic MIP biosensor. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a nanostructured gold modified MIP based LSG biosensor to detect HER-2, which is an important breast cancer biomarker. HER-2 positive breast cancer is more aggressive and does not respond to the same treatment as standard breast cancer. As such, a simple and accurate sensing approach is highly needed for early detection of this type of cancer biomarkers. The LSG sensor platform was fabricated by irradiation of polyimide substrates using a CO2 laser under optimized conditions. Nanostructured gold was electrodeposited onto LSG to enhance its sensitivity and active surface area. Deposition parameters such as deposition voltage, deposition time, and gold chloride (HAuCl4) concentration were optimized to yield complete nanostructured gold coverage and enhanced electrical conductivity of LSG-Au electrodes. A deposition voltage of -0.9 V at 50 mM HAuCl4 for 4 minutes proved to be the optimal condition for gold deposition to yield a 150% peak current enhancement. To fabricate our MIP biosensor, 3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) was chosen from several functional monomers to form PEDOT due to its high conductivity and synergy with nanostructured gold. Electropolymerization of EDOT is performed after adsorbing 0.4mg/mL of HER-2 on the LSG-Au electrode for 20 min. The efficiency of LSG-Au-MIP was optimized by choosing an appropriate extraction agent and HER-2 concentration to be adsorbed on gold. The developed sensing strategy could differentiate between three rebinding concentrations of 10 ng/mL, 100ng/mL, and 200 ng/mL, which is sufficient to determine the HER-2 status of breast cancer since the clinical cut-off is 30.5ng/mL. The developed sensing strategy showed a high degree of novelty and could be useful for the non-invasive detection of cancer biomarkers.

The focus of this thesis is to develop lanthanide (Ln) luminescent materials through the exploration of coordination polymers and nanomaterials. Herein, dimethyl-3,4- furanedicarboxylate acid undergoes hydrolysis under hydrothermal conditions to form coordination polymers with lanthanide ions. The resulting coordination polymers exhibited luminescent properties, with quantum yields and lifetimes for the Eu-and Tb-CP of 1.14+-0.32% and 0.387=-0.0001 mx, and 3.33=-0.82% and 0.769=-0.006 ms, respectively. While the incorporation of lanthanides was not achieved in this work, progress toward the production of pure phase InP in the nanoregime has been made, using a low-cost, hydrothermal method. Through SEM and PXRD conflict, it is believed that pure INP particles with a size range of 58-81 nm were successfully synthesized. / by Natalie E. Greig. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Orientador: Renato Grillo / Resumo: Inúmeros sistemas nanoestruturados vêm sendo desenvolvidos para o transporte e liberação modificada de defensivos agrícolas nos últimos anos. Tais sistemas vêm se mostrando uma potencial ferramenta para reduzir a toxicidade destes ingredientes ativos no ambiente, bem como vêm melhorando a eficiência de pesticidas no campo. Entretanto pouco se conhece sobre o destino, toxicidade e mecanismos de ação destes nanocarreadores no ambiente. Neste sentido, o objetivo do presente trabalho foi desenvolver potenciais sistemas de liberação modificada, encapsulando o herbicida atrazina (ATZ) em carreadores lipídicos nanoestruturados (CLNs) sem e contendo nanopartículas inorgânicas (magnéticas (Fe3O4@AO) e plasmônicas (Au@CTAB)), a fim de construir um sistema de liberação marcado que possa ser rastreado, auxiliando assim em futuras análises destes nanocarreadores no ambiente. Para o desenvolvimento das nanoformulações a técnica de emulsificação/evaporação solvente foi aplicada e diversos métodos físico-químicos foram empregados para a sua caracterização. As nanoformulações permaneceram estáveis por mais de 60 dias à temperatura ambiente. Além disso, os CLNs demostraram ter índice de polidispersão (PDI) < 0,2, potencial zeta entre -5,38 ± 0,27 a -23,5 ± 1,25 mV e uma eficiência de encapsulação maior que 90 % para a ATZ. As análises de microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV) revelaram ausência de agregados e morfologia esférica ao sistema. Além disso, as técnicas de espectroscopia de Infra... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Numerous nanostructured systems have been developed for the transportation and modified release of crop protection products in recent years. Such systems have been shown to be a potential tool to reduce the toxicity of these active ingredients in the environment, as well as improving the efficiency of pesticides in the field. However, little is known about the fate, toxicity and mechanisms of action of these nanocarriers in the environment. In this sense, the objective of the present work was to develop potential modified release systems, encapsulating the herbicide atrazine (ATZ) in nanostructured lipid carriers (CLNs) without and containing inorganic (magnetic (Fe3O4 @ AO) and plasma (Au @ CTAB)) nanoparticles) , in order to build a marked release system that can be tracked, thus assisting in future analyzes of these nanocarriers in the environment. For the development of nanoformulations, the solvent emulsification / evaporation technique was applied and several physical-chemical methods were used for its characterization. The nanoformulations remained stable for more than 60 days at room temperature. In addition, CLNs have been shown to have a polydispersity index (PDI) <0.2, zeta potential between -5.38 ± 0.27 to -23.5 ± 1.25 mV and an encapsulation efficiency greater than 90% for the ATZ. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyzes revealed the absence of aggregates and spherical morphology to the system. In addition, Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray (DRX) techniq... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Tissue engineering is receiving tremendous attention due to the necessity to overcome the limitations related to injured or diseased tissues or organs. It is the perfect combination of cells and biomimetic-engineered materials. With the appropriate biochemical factors, it is possible to develop new effective bio-devices that are capable to improve or replace biological functions. Latest developments in microfabrication methods, employing mostly synthetic biomaterials, allow the production of three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds that are able to direct cell-to-cell interactions and specific cellular functions in order to drive tissue regeneration or cell transplantation. The presented work offers a rapid and efficient method of 3D scaffolds fabrication by using optical lithography and micro-molding techniques. Bioresorbable polymer poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) was the material used thanks to its high biocompatibility and ability to naturally degrade in tissues. 3D PCL substrates show a particular combination in the designed length scale: cylindrical shaped pillars with 10μm diameter, 10μm height, arranged in a hexagonal lattice with spacing of 20μm were obtained. The sidewalls of the pillars were nanostructured by attributing a 3D architecture to the scaffold. The suitability of these devices as cell culture technology supports was evaluated by plating NIH/3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts and human Neural Stem Cells (hNSC) on them. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis was carried out in order to examine the micro- and nano-patterns on the surface of the supports. In addition, after seeding of cells, SEM and immunofluorescence characterization of the fabricated systems were performed to check adhesion, growth and proliferation. It was observed that cells grow and develop healthy on the bio-polymeric devices by giving rise to well-interconnected networks. 3D PCL nano-patterned pillared scaffold therefore may have considerable potential as effective tool for applications in tissue engineering.

Nanoparticles are very interesting components. Due to their very large specific surface area they possess properties in between molecules and macroscopic materials. In addition, a material built up of hierarchically assembled nanoparticles could obtain unique properties, not possessed by the nanoparticles themself. A very interesting group of nanoparticles is the cellulose nanofibrils. The fibrils are found in various renewable resources such as wood, bacteria and tunicates. In this work fibrils extracted from wood is studied. In wood the fibrils are the smallest fibrous component with the approximate dimensions; 4 nm in width and length in the micrometer range, providing a high aspect ratio. In addition, they have a crystallinity above 60% and, hence, a high stiffness. These fibrils are hierarchically ordered in the wood fiber to give it its unique combination of flexibility and strength. The properties of the fibrils make them very suitable to be used as reinforcement elements in composites and, due to their ability to closely pack, to make films with excellent gas barrier properties. The key aspect to design materials, efficiently utilizing the properties of the individual fibrils, is to control the arrangement of the fibrils in the final material. In order to do so, the interactions between fibrils have to be well characterized and controlled. In this thesis the interaction between fibrils in aqueous dispersions is studied, where the main interactions are attractive van der Waals forces and repulsive electrostatic forces. The electrostatic forces arise from carboxyl groups at the fibrils surface, which either are due to hemicelluloses at the fibrils surfaces or chemically introduced to the cellulose chain. This force is sensitive to the chemical environment. It decreases if the pH is reduced or if the salt concentration is increased. If it is strongly reduced the system aggregates. In dilute dispersions aggregation causes formation of multiple clusters, whereas in semi-dilute dispersions (above the overlap concentration) a volume filling network, i.e. a gel, is formed. The tendency of aggregation, i.e. the colloidal stability, can be predicted by using the DLVO theory. In this thesis DLVO predictions are compared to aggregation measurements conducted with dynamic light scattering. Good agreement between experiments and the designed theoretical model was found by including specific interactions between added counter-ions and the carboxyl groups of the fibrils in the model. Thus, the surface charge is both reduced by protonation and by specific interactions. This emphasizes a much larger effect of the counter-ions on the stability then generally thought. Hence, this work significantly improves the understanding of the interfibril interactions in aqueous media. As mentioned above, the fibrils can be physically cross-linked to form a gel. The gelation is an instant process, occurring at pH or salt levels causing the interfibril repulsion to decrease close to zero. If a well dispersed stationary dispersion is gelled, the homogenous and random distribution of the fibrils is preserved in the gel. These gels can be used as templates to produce composites by allowing monomers or polymers to enter the network by diffusion. In an effort to mimic processes occurring in the tree, producing materials with fibrils aligned in a preferred direction, the ability to form gels with controlled fibril orientation were studied. Such networks were successfully produced by applying strain to the system prior or past gelation. Orientation prior gelation was obtained by subjecting the dispersion to elongational flow and freezing the orientation by “turning off” the electrostatic repulsion. Orienting the fibrils after gelation was achieved by applying shear strain. Due to the physical nature of the crosslinks, rotation in the fibril-fibril joints can occur, enabling the fibrils to align in the shear direction. This alignment significantly increased the stiffness of the gels in the shear direction. / QC 20111205

The increasing price of oil, global warming and rapid industrial growth has drawn much attention to renewable energy technologies over the last few decades. The total energy consumption is estimated to increase 1.4% per year globally. About 90% of this energy supply is generated through fossil fuel combustion with a typical efficiency of 30-40%. The remaining 60-70% of the energy is lost to the environment via automotive exhaust or industrial processes. It is highly desired to retrieve wasted heat to improve the overall efficiency of the energy conversion. Developing thermoelectric materials and devices is a potential solution to utilize waste heat as an energy source. Skutterudites are known to be promising thermoelectric materials in the temperature range 600K to 900K. Novel nanoengineering approaches and filling of skutterudites structure can further improve the transport properties of the material. In this work, Cobalt Antimonide (Co4Sb12) based skutterudites were fabricated via mechanical milling and alloying. Rear earth material Ytterbium and Cerium are used as fillers to substitute the cages in the crystal lattice of these materials. Base material is synthesized via thermochemical reduction of the precursors under hydrogen. Further processing of the material is performed with ball milling and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). Ball milling parameters were optimized for nanostructuring of Co4Sb12. Grain size was significantly reduced after SPS compaction. Finally, Thermoelectric transport properties of the material is evaluated over the temperature range 300K to 900K for five different composition of the skutterudites materials. Significant reduction in materials thermal conductivity was achieved through nanostructuring.

DNA-based self-assembly has been developed as an ideal means to create precisely controllable and hierarchical materials from the bottom up due to DNA’s regularity, programmability and addressability. This dissertation demonstrates utilization of the powerful molecular tool to construct 0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D nanomaterials. In the first part of the dissertation, I overview the significance of anisotropic building blocks and discuss how to engineer them in a programmable manner (Chapter 1). I establish a general approach to pattern nanoparticles where DNA nanostructure is employed as a template to transfer prescribed molecular linkers onto an isotropic nanoparticle surface, generating so-called patchy nanoparticle (Chapter 2). I then show the manipulation of nanoscale patches constituted by DNA molecules to fabricate nano-polymeric assemblies (Chapters 3-4). Furthermore, I design sized-confined 2D DNA screens to display discrete nanoparticle patterns and manage dynamic switches of these patterns (Chapter 5). Despite the advancements in fabricating sophisticated DNA nanoarchitectures, achievement of the original motivation of founding DNA nanotechnology, engineering protein nanostructures, is still hindered due to proteins’ heterogeneity and limited general methodologies to integrate them with DNA materials. In the second part of this dissertation, I present three studies towards DNA-based organization of two cascade enzymes, glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase, exhibiting the ability to manipulate proteins at DNA molecular scaffold (Chapter 6), 2D surface (Chapter 7) and 3D lattice (Chapter 8). In particular, the eighth chapter introduces a platform approach for creating by-design organizations of target enzymes decoupled from their inherent properties, paving way for engineering protein superlattice. In addition, all the studied well-defined enzymatic materials can be employed to investigate the correlation of biocatalytic functions with arbitrary enzyme organizations, which is able to resolve the long-running controversy over mechanisms of enzymatic activity enhancement due to DNA scaffolding.

M. Tech. (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology / The understanding of the fundamental properties and potential use of semiconductor materials in nanotechnology has stimulated the interest of many researchers. Coordination compounds containing ligands with chalcogenide atoms as donors have received considerable attention. Among these chalcogenide ligands, thiourea and urea have been extensively used previously to form single source precursors for the synthesis of group II–VI semiconductor nanoparticles. The synthesis and study of semiconductor nanocrystals has become a subject area of considerable research interest because they have potentially useful applications such as biomedical imaging, sensing, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photovoltaics and displays. In this work, special attention has been given to the synthesis and characterization of cadmium and nickel chalcogenides nanoparticles because of their interesting and unique optical properties, using a single source precursor method. The mixed chalcogenide sources are also explored for their complexes or simple reactions to produce semiconductor nanoparticles. The advantages of single molecular precursors over other existing methods for the synthesis of metal chalcogenide nanoparticles has proven to be a more efficient route for the synthesis of high-quality nanocrystals. Cadmium and nickel complexes of urea and thiourea were successfully synthesized by refluxing metal salts of cadmium and nickel with thiourea and urea at 30-40 °C for an hour and the complex mixture was cooled at room temperature. The synthesized complexes were washed with methanol and acetone to remove impurities and dried in air. All other complexes were synthesized using the same refluxing synthesis method mentioned above. The characterization of all complexes was done using Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and CARLO ERBA elemental analysis. Nickel thiourea and cadmium thiourea complexes were found to be coordinating with the center metal through a sulfur atom, and the urea complexes through an oxygen atom. This observation of the coordination of metals with ligands makes these complexes suitable for use as the single source precursor for the synthesis of metal chalcogenides nanoparticles. The six resulted complexes from above synthesis are of cadmium sulphide, cadmium oxide, and nickel sulphide, nickel oxide. The TGA showed that all the complexes were stable at room temperature, as they decomposed around 200 °C, which makes these complexes suitable to be used for the synthesis of nanoparticles. The synthesized complexes reported in this study were used as a single source molecular precursor in the preparation of cadmium oxide, cadmium sulfide, nickel oxide, and nickel sulfide nanoparticles. The precursors were thermalized under nitrogen gas while refluxing at 160 °C for 1 hour, using HDA as the capping agent and TOP was used as the solvent. Crystalline semiconducting nanoparticles were obtained as the end product for all complexes, the resulting nanoparticles were washed with acetone to remove any impurities. The UV-Vis spectra of all the nanoparticles were blue-shifted, with their PL spectra red-shifted from the maximum absorption peak due to change in size of particles from bulk to nano-size. XRD pattern of CdS nanoparticles from Cd-thiourea suggested that a hexagonal phase of CdS was formed, and TEM analysis showed large particle sizes that were polydispersed with the dominance of cubic and rod shaped particles. The XRD patterns of CdS nanoparticles from cadmium thiourea and urea mixture showed the mixture of hexagonal and cubic phase nanoparticles with the predominance of cubic phase and its TEM images shows small particles size ranging from less than 50 nm, and the particles were polydispersed with the predominance of spherical nanoparticles. The XRD pattern of CdO nanoparticles showed the cubic phase nanoparticles with the existence of broad peaks indicating small particle size distribution. The TEM images of CdO nanoparticles confirmed the XRD data showing small particle size distribution with a size average of 6.8 nm. The NiS nanoparticles synthesized from Ni-thiourea complex showed narrow peaks with hkl indices indicating hexagonal phase. Particles has no clear morphology due to the agglomeration of the nanoparticles that can be caused by the instability of the nanoparticles because of their high surface area. A cluster of particles can be observed from the TEM images, making it difficult to determine the particle size and shape of NiS particles from Ni-thiourea complex. NiS particles from nickel thiourea and urea mixture also showed XRD patterns of the hexagonal plane and TEM showed small size conjugated nanocrystals. The TEM of NiO indicated a spherical morphology, existence of other morphology rather than spherical can also be observed from the image. The average particle size was 8 nm, and XRD pattern showed the cubic phase of NiO nanocrystals.

Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC) as a typical malignancy that occurs in high-incidence areas, e.g. southern China region, including Hong Kong, and it has aroused wide interests for local researchers to study. The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was reported as a vital herpes virus for the growth of NPC. Two significant proteins in EBV, namely Epstein-Barr Nuclear Antigen 1 (EBNA1) and latent infection membrane protein 1 (LMP1) are crucial for virus maintenance and EBV-infected cell development, and essential for cell proliferation and differentiation of EBV latent life cycle, respectively. Thus, inhibition of EBNA1 and LMP1 can be regarded as effective and potent therapy on EBV-associated cancers. In this thesis, the conjugation of core-shell structured upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with distinct EBV-specific peptides including EBNA1 and LMP1 targeting peptides to achieve both impressive inhibition on EBV-positive cancers in vitro/in vivo and visualization on EBV-positive cells with responsive upconversion emission signals were investigated. Taking advantage of lanthanide-based UCNPs, their unique photophysical properties offer deep tissue penetration depth, negligible photobleaching and photocytotoxicity, and therefore provides a solid foundation for convincible theranostic studies. Furthermore, desired inhibitory performance was achieved, it was shown that ~50 mg/mL of nanoprobes can inhibit half of EBV-infected cell viability and only 0.25 mg/tumor of nanoprobes dosage via intravenous injection can prohibit 64.7% of growth inhibition of an EBV-positive tumor