Scientific Papers in SCI

Design of bioinspired materials that mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) at the nanoscale is a challenge in tissue engineering. While nanofibrillar gelatin materials mimic chemical composition and nano-architecture of natural ECM collagen components, it lacks the characteristic D-staggered array (D-periodicity) of 67 nm, which is an important cue in terms of cell recognition and adhesion properties. In this study, a nanofibrous gelatin matrix with improved biomimicry is achieved using a formulation including a minimal content of D-periodic self-assembled atelocollagen. We suggest a processing route approach consisting of the thermally induced phase separation of the gelatin based biopolymeric mixture precursor followed by chemical-free material cross-linking. The matrix nanostructure is characterized using field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), wide angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The cell culture assays indicate that incorporation of 2.6 wt.% content of D-periodic atelocollagen to the gelatin material, produces a significant increase of MC3T3-E1 mouse preosteoblast cells attachment and human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) proliferation, in comparison with related bare gelatin matrices. The presented results demonstrate the achievement of an efficient route to produce a cost-effective, compositionally defined and low immunogenic “collagen-like” instructive biomaterial, based on gelatin.

In this work, an examination of mining wastes of an albite deposit in south Spain was carried out using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size analysis, thermodilatometry and Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, followed by the determination of the main ceramic properties. The albite content in two selected samples was high (65-40 wt. %), accompanied by quartz (25-40 wt. %) and other minor minerals identified by XRD, mainly kaolinite, in agreement with the high content of silica and alumina determined by XRF. The content of Na2O was in the range 5.44-3.09 wt. %, being associated with albite. The iron content was very low (<0.75 wt. %). The kaolinite content in the waste was estimated from similar to 8 to 32 wt. %. The particle size analysis indicated values of 11-31 wt. % of particles <63 mu m. The ceramic properties of fired samples (1000-1350 degrees C) showed progressive shrinkage by the thermal effect, with water absorption and open porosity almost at zero at 1200-1250 degrees C. At 1200 ffiC, the bulk density reached a maximum value of 2.38 g/cm(3). An abrupt change in the phase evolution by XRD was found from 1150 to 1200 degrees C, with the disappearance of albite by melting in accordance with the predictions of the phase diagram SiO2-Al2O3-Na2O and the system albite-quartz. These fired materials contained as main crystalline phases quartz and mullite. Quartz was present in the raw samples and mullite was formed by decomposition of kaolinite. The observation of mullite forming needle-shape crystals was revealed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The formation of fully densified and vitrified mullite materials by firing treatments was demonstrated.

Tb-doped TiO2 hollow spheres (HSs) in the range 0.0-2.0 at.% have been synthesized by the first time to the best of our knowledge. The HSs are compared with nanoparticles (NPs) to evaluate the impact of morphology on their physicochemical and photoluminescence (PL) behavior upon increasing calcination temperature. After calcination at 550 degrees C, the particles are anatase with a primary average size of 10.0 +/- 0.2 nm for the NPs and 12.0 +/- 0.2 nm for those that form the micron sized hollow spheres of 1.8 +/- 0.2 mu m diameter and ca. 64 nm shell thickness. The temperature of the anataseerutile transition is found to be strongly dependent on the presence of Tb as well as on morphology. Contrarily to the usual stabilization of anatase when doping with trivalent rare-earth ions, the transition temperature is reduced when doping with Tb. The rutile phase is further favored for the HSs compared to the NPs probably related to the low density of the HSs and/or a more efficient packing density and/or a bigger crystal size of the nanoparticles that form those spheres with respect to the packing and the size of the NPs and/or the crystal size of the nanoparticles of the HSs with respect to the size of the NPs. Only a slight unit-cell volume increase for the anatase structure is observed upon Tb doping, in both the NPs and in the HSs, contrary to the expected increment due to the larger ionic radius of Tb3+ compared to Ti4+. In addition, the intensity of the characteristic f-f Tb3+ emission bands is extremely weak both in the anatase and rutile phases. The transition is accompanied with the emergence of an infrared emission band centered at 810 nm related to the formation of defects during the structural transformation providing deep levels in the gap that partly quench the f-f emissions in the rutile phase. The results are consistent with the presence of Tb in both +3 and +4 valence states. XPS measurements confirmed the presence of Tb3+ as well as of Tb4+ in both HSs and NPs. The large fraction of Tb4+ present in the samples originates the weak f-f emission intensity, an only slight increase of the cell parameters and the destabilization of the anatase phase. 

Composites (AgBr/SnO2) comprised of AgBr and SnO2 with different molar % of bare SnO2, have been synthesized by simple precipitation methods; the bare SnO2 used, was synthesized by hydrothermal procedure. Samples have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2-adsorption, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared photocatalysts was evaluated through photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and caffeic acid (CAFA) under UV and Visible illumination. In photocatalytic degradation studies, for both substrates, conversion rates of around 95% were found in 45 min of both UV-illumination and 85% under visible lighting. These conversion rates were superior than the conversion rates of pure parental components, AgBr and SnO2 under the same experimental conditions. At least, for RhB no loss of photocatalytic activity has been observed after five recycles although the mineralization degree progressively diminished along the recycles. The enhanced photocatalytic degradation of AgBr/SnO2 compounds was attributed, in part, to a synergistic increase in adsorption viability, as well as to the effective separation of photoinduced load carriers that resulted from the formation of a heterojunction according to the type II junction. Radical scavengers’ experiments indicated that active oxidant species as O2.−, ·OH and h+ all are involved in this photocatalytic system, although it seems that O2.− played the major role in the photocatalytic degrading of RhB by AgBr/SnO2 composites. In summary, coupling AgBr with SnO2 remarkably improves the photocatalytic activity under both UV and visible-illumination with respect to the parental components. These features open the route to future applications of this material in the field of environmental remediation.