A simple and high efficient composite based on g-C3N4 for super rapid removal multiple organic dyes in water under sunlight

A simple and high efficient porous composites via the solvent evaporation method using g-C3N4 and NiSO4 was developed. It can super rapidly remove multiple organic dyes in water including rhodamine...

Tuning the Morphology of Sulfur-Few Layers Graphene Composites Via Liquid Phase Evaporation for Battery Application

A comparative study on sulfur-based composite electrodes comprising different few-layers graphene contents prepared via an ease evaporation method is here presented. The active material production process here employed exploring different...

Evaluation of the Influence of Stirring Speed on the Release Kinetics of Fexofenadine HCl Polymeric Microspheres

Microspheres, a potential drug delivery approach, has opened a new era for attaining versatile release patterns needed. By optimizing the formulation variables, they can be prepared to obtain targeted release, immediate release, sustained release patterns. The release of the active drug material depends upon a number of formulation parameters such as polymers, stirring speed (rpm), methodology, surfactants, etc. Fexofenadine hydrochloride (HCl) is a second generation antihistamine. Our present research has explored the effects of using different rpm (600- 1000 rpm) in preparing fexofenadine hydrochloride (HCl) microspheres by emulsion solvent evaporation method. The formulation is aimed to provide sustained release for the required long period with a high margin of safety. We used a blended mixture of Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose (HPMC) K 100 MCR and Eudragit RL100 polymers to have sustained-release microspheres. The impact of different rpm on Yield, drug encapsulation efficiency, flow properties, and dissolution pattern were appraised. We observed the release of the drug for 10 hours in phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) and evaluated the drug release spectrophotometrically. Our study finds that the release of fexofenadine HCl from the microspheres was significantly increased with drug loading. We found the dosage forms to follow Higuchi release kinetics and Hixson-Crowell release kinetics the most, indicating successful achievement of sustained-release pattern in the dosage form. The change in drug release rate was statistically significant for variation in the stirring rate. We found that 600 rpm was the most optimized stirring rate for preparing microspheres in the emulsion solvent evaporation method.

Droplet evaporation patterns of wheat seed leakages differ following treatments with arsenic at ultra-high dilution level

Introduction “Agro-homeopathy” plays an important role in sustainable agriculture providing cost-saving and residue-free plant treatments for the improvement of yield and the management of diseases and pests [1]. However, one of the main difficulties in “agro-homeopathy” is the exact choice of the right remedy and dilution, which requires the performance of many time-consuming trials. The droplet evaporation method could constitute a screening method for evaluating the efficacy of extremely low doses and high dilutions on plants. Droplet patterns prepared out of wheat seed leakages show differences in their complexity in relation to the seed vigour [2]. Here we show that this structure-forming capacity of seed leakages prepared in water or in ultra-high diluted (UHD) solutions may give a reliable picture of the treatment’s stimulating or inhibiting influence on plant vitality. Materials and Methods Part of the seeds was stressed with 0.1% As2O3 (As) aqueous solution [3]. The droplet patterns were prepared out of four samples: non-stressed (ns) seeds in water, ns-seeds in As 45x, stressed (s) seeds in water, s-seeds in As 45x. The experiment was performed in a 3 day repetition, 3 replicates per day, and 5 droplets per each replicate. The resulting patterns were evaluated by means of the ImageJ software [4] for their local connected fractal dimension (LCFD) values. The plant vigour of the four samples was evaluated by means of in vitro wheat growth [5, 6]. Results The mean LCFD of patterns deriving from s-seeds was significantly lower (1.4) vs. ns-seeds (1.7). Moreover, for both ns- and s-seeds, the LCFD was significantly higher with treatment As 45x vs. water (1.8 vs. 1.7 for ns-seeds, and 1.5 vs. 1.2 for s-seeds). The results of the growth test showed a significant vigour decrease caused by As stress (shoot length 19.7mm) vs. ns-seeds (22.4mm); a significant stimulating effect following As 45x treatment was observed for both s-seeds (25.1mm) and ns-seeds (31.4). Discussion The droplet patterns seem to be a sensitive tool for visualizing the effectiveness of UHD on seeds. The experiment showed that the pattern complexity increased with the application of the treatment for both ns- and s-seeds. The growth test provided a further verification of these results. Conclusions Further confirmations are required, but even as it is now the droplet evaporation method may be considered a promising tool for “agro-homeopathic” screening tests. Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest and that this study received no funding. References Betti L, Trebbi G, Majewsky V, Scherr C, Shah-Rossi D, Jaeger T, Baumgartner S. Use of homeopathic preparations in phytopathological models and in field trials: a critical review. Homeopathy 2009; 98: 244-266. Kokornaczyk MO, Dinelli G, Marotti I, Benedettelli S, Nani D, Betti L. Self-organized crystallization patterns from evaporating droplets of Common wheat grain leakages as a potential tool for quality analysis. TheScientificWorldJ. 2011; 11: 1712-1725. Brizzi M, Elia V, Trebbi G, Nani D, Peruzzi M, Betti L. The efficacy of ultra molecular aqueous dilutions on a wheat germination model as a function of heat and aging-time. e-CAM 2011; Article ID 696298: 11p. doi: 10.1093/ecam/nep217. Collins TJ. ImmageJ for microscopy. BioTechniques. 2007; 43: 25-30. Betti L, Brizzi M, Nani D, Peruzzi M. Effect of high dilutions of Arsenicum album on wheat seedlings from seed poisoned with the same substance. Br. Homeopath. J. 1997; 86: 86-89. Brizzi M, Lazzarato L, Nani D, Borghini F, Peruzzi M, Betti L. A biostatistical insight into the As2O3 high dilution effects on the rate and variability of wheat seedling growth. Forsch. Komplementmed. 2005; 12: 277-283.

Formulation Development and Evaluation of Sustained Release Microsphere of Levetiracetam

The aim of the present work was to develop and evaluate of oral microsphere of Levetiracetam to reduce the frequency of dosing by achieving 12 hours sustained drug release. The microsphere formed will also mask the bitter taste of the drug and thus increase the compatibility of the drug with the patients. Levetiracetam is a second-generation anti-epileptic agent useful in the treatment of partial onset and monoclinic seizures. It has a short half life of 7 hours and its recommended dose is 500 mg twice a daily. Microspheres are suitable drug delivery system for such drug candidate. For these reasons it is must to formulate a suitable dosage form by which it will be easier to administer the dose and also to get a sustained drug release hence microsphere was prepared using solvent evaporation method. Preformulation studies were carried out to rule out any drug polymer interaction by FTIR technique. In this study formulation was done solvent evaporation method using different percentage of HPMC– K 100, HPMC- K 15 and coated with Eudragit S100. Drug, polymer and physical mixture were evaluated for in compatibility study by Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy. All the batches of microsphere (F1 to F5) were subjected for in vitro dissolution. Microsphere was evaluated for surface morphology, micromeritics properties, entrapment efficiency and in vitro drug release. The entrapment efficiency of microsphere ranged from 71.16%-73.66%. The size of the prepared microsphere ranges between 42.8 µm to 55.64 µm which was found to increase with increase in RPM at same polymer ratio. Micromeritics studies showed good flow properties. Among the microsphere batches, F5 was observed as an optimized batch as its formulation with polymer i.e. Eudragit-S 100 and HPMC-K 100 was found to be release in sustained manner. The F-5 batch shows is 79.45% drug release at the end of 7 hrs and its stability study indicate that these microspheres were stable at selected temperature and humidity

Fabrication of BaSi2 homojunction diodes on Nb-doped TiO2 coated glass substrates by aluminum-induced crystallization and two-step evaporation method

BaSi2 homojunction diodes on Nb-doped TiO2 (TiO2:Nb) coated glass substrates were fabricated using aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) and two-step evaporation method. From Raman scattering spectra, the growth of BaSi2 on TiO2:Nb was confirmed when the thickness of poly-Si grown by AIC (AIC-Si) was more than 150 nm. The partial formation of BaSi2 diodes was confirmed from the samples prepared at temperature during AIC TAIC=475-525 oC. The long-wavelength edge of photoresponsivity of the diodes was located around 950 nm, which corresponds to the bandgap of BaSi2 of 1.3 eV, suggesting that this photocurrent is derived from BaSi2 thin films. At TAIC =500 oC, the maximum value of photoresponsivity was obtained. Since the largest grains in AIC-Si were also obtained at TAIC=500 oC, these results suggest that larger grain of AIC-Si leads to the improvement of the quality of BaSi2 thin films themselves and the performance of BaSi2 diodes.