Alginate Nanohydrogels as a Biocompatible Platform for the Controlled Release of a Hydrophilic Herbicide

The large-scale application of volatile and highly water-soluble pesticides to guarantee crop production can often have negative impacts on the environment. The main loss pathways are vapor drift, direct volatilization, or leaching of the active substances. Consequently, the pesticide can either accumulate and/or undergo physicochemical transformations in the soil. In this scenario, we synthesized alginate nanoparticles using an inverse miniemulsion template in sunflower oil and successfully used them to encapsulate a hydrophilic herbicide, i.e., dicamba. The formulation and process conditions were adjusted to obtain a unimodal size distribution of nanohydrogels of about 20 nm. The loading of the nanoparticles with dicamba did not affect the nanohydrogel size nor the particle stability. The release of dicamba from the nanohydrogels was also tested: the alginate nanoparticles promoted the sustained and prolonged release of dicamba over ten days, demonstrating the potential of our preparation method to be employed for field application. The encapsulation of hydrophilic compounds inside our alginate nanoparticles could enable a more efficient use of pesticides, minimizing losses and thus environmental spreading. The use of biocompatible materials (alginate, sunflower oil) also guarantees the absence of toxic additives in the formulation.

Size-Specific Copper Nanoparticle Cytotoxicity Varies between Human Cell Lines

Commercially available copper nanoparticles of three different sizes were tested for cytotoxicity against three human cell lines using four different cytotoxicity assays. This array of data was designed to elucidate trends in particle stability, uptake, and cytotoxicity. The copper nanoparticles are not stable in cell culture media, and rapid changes over the time course of the assays play a critical role in the measured endpoints. Typically, the 40–60 nm particles tested were more cytotoxic than either smaller or larger particles. These particles were also taken up more readily by cells and exhibited different stability dynamics in cell culture media. This provides a good correlation between total cellular uptake of copper and cytotoxicity that may be directly linked to particle stability, though it is unclear why the intermediate-sized particles exhibited these unique properties when compared with both larger and smaller particles.

Impact of Ozone Used-Alone and Coagulation Aid Treatment on The Reduction of Trihalomethanes Components

The whole research paper examines the impact of ozone as either a just use-alone and coagulation benefit, mainly upon the reduction of dissolved organic carbon from the water with a moderate rate of DOC 10.75 mg/land CaCO3 calcium hardness 300 mg/l. A raw water sample has been taken from the Tigris River (Baghdad, Iraq) was being adopted in research work. The performance of ozone therapy has been assessed by calculations of DOC, DOC quantities, UV254, as well as total trihalomethane (TTHM). Research findings have shown that with 0.9 mg O3/mg DOC ozone use-alone, approximately 60% UV254 reduction and approximately 28% DOC reduction will occur.DOC fractionation analysis indicates that within the water samples, ozone could alter the composition of DOC, transform the hydrophobic fractions toward hydrophilic fractions and reduce TTHM. Ozone was also responsible for a significant reduction in particle stability as well as the dissolved calcium content. Improved water flocculation and improved DOC removal were triggered by these simultaneous ozonation effects. This resulted in a decrease in the coagulant dosage while the dosage of ozone is considerably higher over 0.3 mg O3/mg DOC has added before ferric sulfate coagulation. The pre-ozonation coagulation method also accomplished favorable removal of TTHM with all tested ozone doses (0 to 0.9 mg O3/mg DOC), resulting in lower TTHM during pre-ozonated coagulated waters unlike those through related ozonated waters.

Prospects and limitations of single-crystal cathode materials to overcome cross-talk phenomena in high-voltage lithium ion cells

Compared to conventional poly-crystal NCM, single-crystal NCM reveals significantly improved particle stability and less electrode cross-talk, which not only suppresses rollover fading but also improves performance aspects and the cycle life up to 4.7 V.

Stickiness and agglomeration of blackberry and raspberry spray dried juices using agave fructans and maltodextrin as carrier agents

The present study shows the effect of agave fructans as a carrier agent compared with maltodextrin to evaluate the particle stability of blackberry and raspberry juices. A pilot spray dryer was used with feed flow of 20 mL h–1 and atomization rate of 28 000 rpm. The inlet air temperature of 180 °C and outlet air temperature of 80 °C were used as parameter constants. Only the parameters of the carrier agent concentration of 5, 7.5 to 10% (w/v) were changed. The concentration of 10% agave fructans was high enough to recover the higher yields of 89% only for blackberry, for raspberry the concentration of 7.5% agave fructans was sufficient to recover the yield of 67%. The stability diagrams show the conditions of the particles that should not be exceeded when leaving spray drying, as well as the storage conditions that must be followed to avoid agglomeration.

Characterization of Nanoparticles Using DSPE-PEG2000 and Soluplus

The aim of this study was to evaluate the characterized hydration method to prepare nanoparticles using Soluplus, a block copolymer with amphipathic properties, and distearoyl phosphatidyl ethanolamine (DSPE)-PEG2000 owing to particle size distribution, zeta potential, particle stability, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observed and 31P-NMR spectra. The results showed that, in a suspension of DSPE-PEG2000 and Soluplus at a ratio of 1/1, the prepared microparticles were stable for five days in the dark and at 25 °C. It was also confirmed that the 1/1 suspension of DSPE-PEG2000/Soluplus was stable for five days under the same conditions with the magnesium chloride solution. TEM measurements confirmed the presence of micelle-like particles of 50 to 150 nm in the 1/1 ratio mix of DSPE-PEG2000/Soluplus. 31P-NMR spectral data confirmed that DPSE-PEG2000/Soluplus at mixing ratio of 1/1 has a strong intermolecular with the phosphate group, indicated by the fact that the peak shift and the full width at half maximum were the largest compared with DSPE-PEG2000 with the intermolecular interaction. On the basis of the findings of this study, we conclude that microparticles can be formed using DSPE-PEG2000 and Soluplus via the hydration method, and that the optimum weight ratio of DSPE-PEG2000 to Soluplus is 1/1.