Artículos SCI

The electrospinning technique is a versatile method for the production of fibrous scaffolds able to resemble the morphology of the native extra cellular matrix. In the present paper, electrospinning is used to fabricate novel SiO2particles (type MCM-41) containing poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) fibers. The main aims of the present work are both the optimization of the particle synthesis and the fabrication of composite fibers, obtained using benign solvents, suitable as drug delivery systems and scaffolds for soft tissue engineering applications. The optimized synthesis and characterization of calcium-containing MCM-41 particles are reported. Homogeneous bead-free composite electrospun mats were obtained by using acetic acid and formic acid as solvents; neat PCL electrospun mats were used as control. Initially, an optimization of the electrospinning environmental parameters, like relative humidity, was performed. The obtained composite nanofibers were characterized from the morphological, chemical and mechanical points of view, the acellular bioactivity of the composite nanofibers was also investigated. Positive results were obtained in terms of mesoporous particle incorporation in the fibers and no significant differences in terms of average fiber diameter were detected between the neat and composite electrospun fibers. Even if the Ca-containing MCM-41 particles are bioactive, this property is not preserved in the composite fibers. In fact, during the bioactivity assessment, the particles were released confirming the potential application of the composite fibers as a drug delivery system. Preliminary in vitro tests with bone marrow stromal cells were performed to investigate cell adhesion on the fabricated composite mats, the positive obtained results confirmed the suitability of the composite fibers as scaffolds for soft tissue engineering.

Rh/MnO2-CeO2/Al2O3 catalysts with different manganese-to-ceria ratios have been synthesized, characterized and tested in CO-PrOx reaction. The physicochemical properties of the solids were studied by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, BET surface area, H-2-TPR, TGA-DTG and TEM. The differences observed in the textural, structural and redox properties were related to the Mn-to-ceria ratio of the samples. The segregation of Mn species was observed at high Mn-to-Ce ratios. In opposite way, MnO2-CeO2 solid solutions were obtained at low Mn to Ce ones. In this last case, the physicochemical properties of the solids were favored by the intimate Rh-Ce-Mn contact. The effect of the Mn-Ce presence on Rh catalysts which promotes the catalytic behavior towards selective CO oxidation was observed to be better at low temperatures. At higher temperatures, Mn species promote the Reverse Water Gas Shift reaction, whilst ceria promotes the H-2 oxidation in the whole range of working temperatures.