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In the present investigation, a glucose sensor based on conducting polyaniline nanowire electrode junction (CPNEJ) has been reported. The CPNEJ platform was modified by glucose oxidase by cross-linking in the presence of glutaraldehyde. The signal transduction mechanism of the sensor is based on the change in micro electrode junction conductance as a result of glucose oxidation induced change in the polymer redox state. Small size of CPNEJ sensor causes to regenerate enzyme naturally without need of redox mediators, as a result it consumes minimum amount of oxygen and also gives very fast response. This sensor exhibited good linear response range from 1 mM to 20 mM of glucose concentration with excellent sensitivity of 12 μA/mM.

Nylon-6 is an engineering plastic with excellent properties and processability, which are essential in several industrial applications. The addition of filler such as diamond (DN) and diamond coated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to form molded composites may increase the range of Nylon-6 applications due to the resulting increase in strength. The effects of electron-beam irradiation on these thermoplastic nanocomposites are either increase in the cross-linking or causes chain scission. In this study, DN-coated CNTs were synthesized using the sonochemical technique in the presence of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). The DN-coated CNTs nanoparticles and diamond nanoparticles were then introduced into Nylon-6 polymer through a melt extrusion process to form nanocomposite fibers. They were further tested for their mechanical (Tensile) and thermal properties (thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)). These composites were further exposed to the electron-beam (160kGy, 132kGy and 99kGy) irradiation using a 1.5MeV electron-beam accelerator, at room temperature, in the presence of air and tested for their thermal and mechanical properties. The best ultimate tensile strength was found to be 690MPa and 864MPa irradiated at 132 for DN/CNTs/Nylon-6 and Diamond/Nylon-6 nanocomposite fiber as compared to 346MPa and 321MPa for DN/CNTs/Nylon-6 and Diamond/Nylon-6 nanocomposite fiber without irradiation. The neat Nylon-6 tensile strength was 240MPa. These results are consistent with the activation energy calculated from TGA graphs. DSC analysis result shows that the slight increase in glass transition temperature ($T_g$) and decrease in melting temperature ($T_m$) which was expected from high electron-beam radiation dose.

Small fixed aggregates of a poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polybutadiene diblock copolymer (PEO-b-PB) in THF solution were obtained by adding a selective solvent for PB blocks, followed by cross-linking the PB shells. The morphologies of the nanostructured particles with a cross-linked shell were investigated by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The average behaviors of the PEO crystallization and melting confined within the nanostructured particles were studied by using differential scanning calorimetry experiments. For the deeply cross-linked sample (SCL-1), the crystallization of the PEO blocks was fully confined. The individual nanoparticles only crystallized at very low crystallization temperatures (T_cs), wherein the homogenous primary nucleation determined the overall crystallization rate. For the lightly cross-linked sample (SCL-2), the confinement effect was T_c dependent. At T_c ≤ 42°C, the crystallization and melting behaviors of SCL-2 were similar to those of the pure PEO-b-PB diblock copolymer. At T_c > 42°C, SCL-2 could form PEO lamellae thicker than those of the pure PEO-b-PB crystallized at the same T_c.

Enhanced stability of polyplexes in physiological condition was an important prerequisite for successful systemic gene delivery. Herein novel method was reported to develop stable gene vector by nanotechnology. Thiolated polyplexes were constructed and then cross-linked with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by gold-thiol interactions. TEM pictures showed that AuNPs were attached to the shell of spherical polyplexes. The hybrid gene vector was stable enough in physiological condition and maintained efficient transfection, which showed great potential in gene delivery research and application.

Ethanol perm-selective PDMS/PVDF composite membranes were prepared by curing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with various cross-linking reagents, such as tetraethoxylsilane (TEOS), γ-aminopropyltriethoxylsilane (APTEOS), phenyltrimethoxylsilane (PTMOS) and octyltrimethoxylsilane (OTMOS) as well. The cross-linking density and surface properties of the PDMS active layer were adjusted by varying cross-linking reagents. The pervaporation performance of PDMS membranes cured with different cross-linking reagents was investigated in detail. As temperature increased, the total flux of the four kinds of membranes all increased exponentially, and the separation factor followed a reversed order. The increase of thickness of PDMS layers depressed the total flux of composite membranes and had no obvious effect on selectivity of ethanol. It was found that the composite membrane cured by PTMOS showed much better separation performance compared with other membranes. A resistance-in-series model was used to investigate and estimate the overall mass transfer coefficients and boundary layer mass transfer coefficients of ethanol and water according to experimental results. The measured diffusivities of ethanol and water in PDMS membranes had a magnitude of 10^-10m²·s^?1 and 10^-11m²·s^?1 at 313.15 K, respectively.

We presented a new approach to produce Chitosan–Glutaraldehyde–Chitosan–Alginate (CGCA) hollow fiber with the capability of cell capture and adhesion for vascular tissue engineering. The CGCA hollow fiber was generated by sacrificing the inner part of alginate/chitosan (A/C) solid fiber using sodium citrate, followed by glutaraldehyde (GA) cross-linking chitosan to form stable imine bonds on the fiber surface. Furthermore, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were captured by the CGCA hollow fiber surface and adhesive as layer pattern with good viability and normal morphology. This strategy facilitated the lumen structure formation with good biocompatibility by biomaterials modification, providing a promising and facile technique for blood vessel regeneration in vitro and in vivo.

The thermal and degradable properties of carbodiimide (EDC) or glutaraldehyde (GTA) cross-linked gelatin membranes have been investigated in order to evaluate the effects of different concentrations of two kinds of cross-linking reagent on the stability of membranes. In the thermogram recorded from a gelatin membrane cross-linked with EDC solution, the endothermic peak of 0.8% EDC cross-linking gelatin was centered at about 61°C that was higher than other samples treated with EDC solutions. Denaturation temperature (Td) of gelatin samples increased on increasing EDC concentration (0.2% to 0.8%), in agreement with the simultaneous increased of the extent of cross-linking. But increasing GTA concentration from 0.05% to 0.6%, the Td values of gelatin samples were decreased from 66.2°C to 56.3°C . In addition, two endothermic peaks were observed in 0.4% and 0.6% GTA cross-linking groups because of the GTA concentration was too high to complete cross-linking reaction. Therefore, partial of gelatin membrane was cross-linked completely but others were not. In the thermogravimetric analysis, the proportion of cracking endothermic peak of 0.6% GTA cross-linking gelatin (g15G0.6) was higher than the peak of 0.6% EDC cross-linking gelatin (g15C0.6). Therefore, g15G0.6 cracked to smaller molecules has to absorb more calorific capacity than g15C0.6. The increase in the strength of covalent binding on increasing the proportion of endothermic peak was evident. The results of degradable rate were in agreement with the lower concentration of cross-linked reagent the faster degraded rate of gelatin membrane. The MTT assay showed that 15% gelatin cross-linked by 0.8% EDC has the least cytotoxicity, and cell activity of this group was similar to control group (blank dish). As the concentration of GTA in gelatin membranes was down to 0.05% or 0.1% the cell viability was returned to approach the value of control group.