• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.24-29
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• 2018

Despite the great potential for the versatile applications in food industry and medical area, chitosan as a biocompatible cationic polysaccharide has suffered from the limited solubility under physiological condition. Herein, we demonstrated the electrostatic formation of chitosan-based polyplex particles, counterbalanced by polyacrylate as an anionic polyelectrolyte. The resulting polyplex exhibited pH- and composition-dependent changes in their surface charges as measured by zeta potential, which can be employed to provide the interparticle repulsive forces for enhanced colloidal stability in homogeneous solution. Subsequently, amide coupling between the acrylates and glucosamine residues of chitosan inside the polyplex further generated the hydrogel particles, which showed the temperature-sensitive swelling property. This aspect can be attributed to the partial formation of acryl amide residues, which have been generally known to possess the lower critical solution temperature (LCST).

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.173-176
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• 2012

Chlorine dioxide has an excellent ability to sterilize and deodorize and is harmless to humans. However, it is very unstable and explosive as it is highly concentrated, thus its use in the air clean filed has been limited. Therefore, there is a demand to develop the system to produce a low concentration of chlorine dioxide sustainedly. Here, for a first step in the development of the system on the sustained production of chlorine dioxide, the use of polymer hydrogels was investigated. P(MMA-co-HEMA) hydrogel particles were prepared via dispersion photopolymerization and sodium chlorite and citric acid were loaded respectively in the hydrogel particles. When sodium chlorite and citric acid were reacted with not loaded in the hydrogels, rapid production of chlorine dioxide occurred and the concentration of chlorine dioxide decreased over time. However, when sodium chlorite and citric acid were loaded respectively in the hydrogel particles and reacted, chlorine dioxide was produced slowly and sustainedly because the release of sodium chlorite and citric acid from the hydrogels delayed the reaction between them. The result shows that the use of P(MMA-co HEMA) hydrogels has the potential to develop the system on the sustained production of chlorine dioxide.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.547-555
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• 1996

Porous alumina ceramics were fabricated by pseudo-boehmite phydosol-gel process within/without commercial $\alpha$-alumina particles average 1 and 40 micron respectively. The pore characteristics of fired specimens were studied by the measurement of bulk density total porosity thyermal analysis pore volume pore distribution BET area XRD and SEM. with increasing of firing temperature pore volume and BET surface area were decreased and the average pore size was increased to approximately 146$\AA$ upto 80$0^{\circ}C$ by de-watering of [OH] and formation of $\alpha$-alumina. The fired relative density of the alumina-dispersed specimen with average 1 micron particle was increased with the amounts of dispersed particle by bimodal packing theory which is compared to the ones of specimen including of average 40 micron particle. It was confirmed that the percola-tion threshold in porous ceramics with coarser particle (40 micron) has formed between the transformed-alumina from hydrogel and dispersed-alumina of above 50 vol% particle and the total porosity was increased at the threshold point above.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2012

Purpose: This article was to study the optical and surface properties of soft contact lenses (SCL) exposed to eye make-ups. Methods: Rates of the light transmission of etafilcon A (HEMA based hydrogel lens) and lotrafilcon B (silicone based hydrogel lens) exposed to four different cosmetics over time were investigated. After cleansed with multi-purpose solution (MPS), rates of the light transmission and surface change of lens that were exposed to the cosmetics for 7 consecutive days were analyzed. Results: Visible light transmissions of all lenses exposed to cosmetics decreased to 93.35% (HEMA based hydrogel lens) and 90% (silicone based hydrogel lens) compared with those of the fresh SCLs, such as 97.8% and 96.4%, respectively. It was found that cosmetic residues from powder eye shadow and mascara attached to the lenses were not removed completely when cleansed with MPS. Especially with silicone based hydrogel lens, we found a decrease in visible light transmission of the lens and noticeable particles on lens surface imaged by SEM. Conclusions: Depending on types of eye make-ups and contact lens materials, make-ups were not completely eliminated with current cleansing methods and that caused a decrease in optical property and a change in surface property of the lenses.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.573-578
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• 2006

Three different, polymer-platinum conjugates (hydrogels, microparticles, and nanoparticles) were synthesized by complexation of cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) (cisplatin) with partially succinylated glycol chitbsan (PSGC). Succinic anhydride was used as a linker to introduce cisplatin to glycol chitosan (GC). Succinylation of GC was investigated systematically as a function of the molar ratio of succinic anhydride to glucosamine, the methanol content in the reaction media, and the reaction temperature. By controlling the reaction conditions, water-soluble, partially water-soluble, and hydrogel-forming PSGCs were synthesized, and then conjugated with cisplatin. The complexation of cisplatin with water-soluble PSGC via a ligand exchange reaction of platinum from chloride to the carboxylates induced the formation of nano-sized aggregates in aqueous media. The hydrodynamic diameters of PSGC/cisplatin complex nano-aggregates, as determined by light scattering, were 180-300 nm and the critical aggregation concentrations (CACs), as determined by a fluorescence technique using pyrene as a probe, were $20-30{\mu}g/mL$. The conjugation of cisplatin with partially water-soluble PSGC, i.e., borderline between water-soluble and water-insoluble PSGC, produced micro-sized particles $<500{\mu}m$. Cisplatin-complexed PSGC hydrogels were prepared from water-insoluble PSGCs. All of the cisplatin-incorporated, polymer matrices released platinum in a sustained manner without any significant initial burst, suggesting that they may all be useful as slow release systems for cisplatin. The release rate of platinum increased with the morphology changes from hydrogel through microparticle to nanoparticle systems.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.315-327
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• 2016

Undergoing large volumetric changes upon incremental environmental stimulation, hydrogels are interesting materials which hold immense potentials for utilization in a wide array of applications in diverse industries. Owing to the large magnitudes of deformation it undergoes, swelling induced instability is a commonly observed sight in all types of gels. In this work, we investigate the instability of photo-thermal sensitive hydrogels, produced by impregnating light absorbing nano-particles into the polymer network of a temperature sensitive hydrogel, such as PNIPAM. Earlier works have shown that by using lights of different intensities, these hydrogels follow different swelling trends. We investigate the possibility of utilizing this fact for remote switching applications. The analysis is built on a thermodynamic framework of inhomogeneous large deformation of hydrogels and implemented via commercial finite element software, ABAQUS. Various examples of swelling induced instabilities, and its corresponding dependence on light intensity, will be investigated. We show that the instabilities that arise have their morphologies dependent on the light intensity.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.165-173
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• 2008

Multiple particle tracking microrheology is used to characterize the viscoelastic properties of biomaterial and synthetic polymer gels near the liquid-solid transition. Probe particles are dispersed in the gel precursors, and their dynamics are measured as a function of the extent of reaction during gel formation. We interpret the dynamics using the generalized Stokes-Einstein relationship (GSER), using a form of the GSER that emphasizes the relationship between the probe particle mean-squared displacement and the material creep compliance. We show that long-standing concepts in gel bulk rheology are applicable to microrheological data, including time-cure superposition to identify the gel point and critical scaling exponents, and the power-law behavior of incipient network's viscoelastic response. These experiments provide valuable insight into the rheology, structure, and kinetics of gelling materials, and are especially powerful for studying the weak incipient networks of dilute gelators, as well as scarce materials, due to the small sample size requirements and rapid data acquisition.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2006

Porous chitosan and chitin membranes were prepared by using silica particles as porogen. Membrane preparation was achieved via the following three steps: (1) chitosan film formation by casting an chitosan solution containing silica particles, (2) preparation of porous chitosan membrane by dissolving the silica particles by immersing the film into an alkaline solution and (3) preparation of porous chitin membrane by acetylation of chitosan membrane with acetic anhydride. The optimum preparation conditions which could provide a chitosan and chitin membranes with good mechanical strength and adequate pure water flux were determined. To allow protein affinity, a reactive dye (Cibacron Blue 3GA) was immobilized on porous chitosan membrane. Binding capacities of affinity chitosan and chitin membranes for protein and enzyme were determined by the batch adsorption experiments of BSA protein and lysozyme enzyme. The maximum binding capacity of affinity chitosan membrane for BSA protein is about 22 mg/mL, and that of affinity chitin membrane for lysozyme enzyme is about 26 mg/mL. Those binding capacities are about $several{\sim}several$ tens times larger than those of chitosan and chitin-based hydrogel beads. Those results suggest that the porous chitosan and chitin membranes are suitable in affinity filtration chromatography for large scale separation of proteins.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.351-355
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• 2014

In recent years, biochar has received much attention as soil amendment, enhancing soil fertility and reducing toxicity of heavy metals with its large specific surface area and high pH. Biochar has also the effect of alleviating global warming by carbon sequestration from recycling organic wastes by pyrolysis. However, scattering of fine particles of biochar is a hindrance to expand its use from human health point-of-view. Alginate, a natural polymer without toxicity, has been used for capsulation and hydrogel fabrication due to its cross-linking nature with calcium ion. In this study, the method of cross-linkage between alginate and calcium ion was employed for making dust-free biochar bead. Then an equilibrium adsorption experiment was performed for verifying the adsorption effect of biochar bead on heavy metals (cadmium, copper, lead, arsenic, and zinc). Results showed that biochar bead had effects on adsorbing heavy metals, especially lead, except arsenic.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.453-464
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• 2019

Soft marine soil has high fine-grained soil content and in-situ water content. Thus, it has low shear strength and bearing capacity and is susceptible to a large settlement, which leads to difficulties with coastal infrastructure construction. Therefore, strength improvement and settlement control are essential considerations for construction on soft marine soil deposits. Biopolymers show their potential for improving soil stability, which can reduce the environmental drawbacks of conventional soil treatment. This study used two biopolymers, an anionic xanthan gum biopolymer and a cationic ${\varepsilon}-polylysine$ biopolymer, as representatives to enhance the geotechnical engineering properties of soft marine soil. Effects of the biopolymers on marine soil were analyzed through a series of experiments considering the Atterberg limits, shear strength at a constant water content, compressive strength in a dry condition, laboratory consolidation, and sedimentation. Xanthan gum treatment affects the Atterberg limits, shear strength, and compressive strength by interparticle bonding and the formation of a viscous hydrogel. However, xanthan gum delays the consolidation procedure and increases the compressibility of soils. While ${\varepsilon}-polylysine$ treatment does not affect compressive strength, it shows potential for coagulating soil particles in a suspension state. ${\varepsilon}-Polylysine$ forms bridges between soil particles, showing an increase in settling velocity and final sediment density. The results of this study show various potential applications of biopolymers. Xanthan gum biopolymer was identified as a soil strengthening material, while ${\varepsilon}-polylysine$ biopolymer can be applied as a soil-coagulating material.