Browsing by Author "Lai, Juin-Yih"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Fabrication of hydrothermally reduced graphene oxide/chitosan composite membranes with a lamellar structure on methanol dehydration
(2017-06-01)
Hung, Wei-Song
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Chang, Sue-Mm
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Lecaros, Rumwald Leo G.
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Ji, Yan-Li
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An, Quan-Fu
Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been prepared through hydrothermal reduction, an environmentally safe reduction of graphene oxide (GO). rGO is used to fabricate a highly compatible and orderly stacked lamellar structure of composite membranes with chitosan (CS). This method also facilitates a continuous large-scale fabrication of membranes. Conventionally, GO and CS are the preferred compounds for this type of fabrication because of their hydrophilic nature. Nevertheless, when they are mixed together, the occurrence of ionic complexation (-COO-H3+N-R) between the negatively charged carboxylate ions of GO and the positively charged protonated amines of CS create extreme membrane aggregation. Hydrothermal reduction is useful for preventing undesired ionic complexation from mixing rGO and CS because it can remove most carboxylate ions from GO. Consequently, the hydrophilic CS molecular chain is inserted in between the rGO laminates, improving the dispersion and enabling the rGO/CS to stack-up and self-assemble into a lamellar structure. Furthermore, excellent methanol dehydration can be observed through pervaporation, which is attributed to the selective water channels formed in the rGO laminates. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Mixed Lanthanide Oxide Nanoparticles Coated with Alginate-Polydopamine as Multifunctional Nanovehicles for Dual Modality: Targeted Imaging and Chemotherapy
(2019-10-01)
Addisu, Kefyalew Dagnew
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Hsu, Wei-Hsin
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Hailemeskel, Balkew Zewge
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Andrgie, Abegaz Tizazu
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Chou, Hsiao-Ying
Integrating anticancer drugs and diagnostic agents in a polymer nanosystem is an emerging and promising strategy for improving cancer treatment. However, the development of multifunctional nano articles (NPs) for an "all-in-one" platform characterized by specific targeting, therapeutic efficiency, and imaging feedback remains an unmet clinical need. In this study, pH-responsive mixed-lanthanide-based multifunctional NPs were fabricated based on simple metal ligand interactions for simultaneous cancer cell imaging and drug delivery. We investigated two new systems of alginate-polydopamine complexed with either terbium/europium or dysprosium/erbium oxide NPs (Tb/Eu@AlgPDA or Dy/Er@AlgPDA NPs). Tb/Eu@AlgPDA NPs were then functionalized with the tumor-targeting ligand folic acid (FA) and loaded with the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) to form FA-Tb/Eu@AlgPDA-DOX NPs. Using such systems, the mussel-inspired property of PDA was introduced to improve tumor targetability and penetration, in addition to active targeting (via FA-folate receptor interactions). Determining the photoluminescence efficiency showed that the Tb/Eu@AlgPDA system was superior to the Dy/Er@AlgPDA system, presenting intense and sharp emission peaks on the fluorescence spectra. In addition, compared to Dy/Er@A1gPDA NPs (82.4%), Tb/Eu@AlgPDA NPs exhibited negligible cytotoxicity with >93.3% HeLa cell viability found in MTT assays at NP concentrations of up to 0.50 mg/mL and high biocompatibility when incubated with zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos and larvae. The FA-Tb/Eu@AlgPDA-DOX system exhibited a pH-responsive and sustained drug-release pattern. In a spheroid model of HeLa cells, the FA-Tb/Eu@AlgPDA-DOX system showed a better penetration efficiency and spheroid growth-inhibitory effect than free DOX. After incubation with zebrafish embryos, the FA-Tb/Eu@AlgPDA-DOX system also showed improved antitumor efficacies versus the other experimental groups in HeLa tumor cell xenografted zebrafish. Therefore, our results suggested that FA-Tb/Eu@AlgPDA-DOX NPs are promising multifunctional nanocarriers with therapeutic capacity for tumor targeting and penetration.
Pre-Treatment of Natural Organic Matters Containing Raw Water using Coagulation
(2010)
Cheng, Ya-Ling
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Wong, Ruei-Jyun
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Lin, Justin Chun-Te
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Huang, Chihpin
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Lee, Duu-Jong
Coagulation is a commonly adopted process as a pretreatment step for minimizing membrane fouling. Three coagulants, polyaluminum chloride (PACl), alum, and FeCl3 were tested under four mixing-settling schemes for turbidity and natural organic matters (NOM) removal. The organic matters in the raw waters were fractionated by high performance size exclusion chromatography (HP-SEC) system and were characterized using the excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectra. Sufficient rapid mixing and slow mixing or applying two-stage coagulation benefit turbidity removal using PACl or FeCl3 under oelectrostatic patch coagulationo (EPC) mechanism. The EPC mechanism is not efficient for alum coagulation. At higher coagulant doses, the NOM removal is not affected by mixing condition. Intensive rapid mixing alone benefits NOM removal using PACl or FeCl3. Alum is a poor coagulant for NOM removal under EPC mechanism.
Using a novel sulfonated silica nanoparticles for Nafion (R) membrane for direct methanol fuel cell
(2006-11-20)
Su, Yu-Huei
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Wei, Tung-Yu
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Hsu, Chih-Hao
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Liu, Ying-Ling
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Sun, Yi-Ming