Sharif Digital Repository

In this work, the mechanical behavior of smart hydrogels is studied for temperature sensitive and, pH and temperature sensitive ones. First, an equilibrium model is presented for the temperature sensitive hydrogles which is continuous and numerically stable especially in the vicinity of the phase transition temperature. The model results are validated through comparing them with the experimental data available in the literature. The model results are in good agreement with those of experiments especially for hydrogels with high cross-linking density. Then, the model is implemented in a finite element framework by which some homogeneous and inhomogeneous problems are numerically solved.... 

Emission of CO2 and its diffusion into atmosphere is associated with negative effects on the environmental such as Green House Gases effect. Various techniques of CO2 Capture in energy conversion and processing plant are investigated. A method of CO2 Capture could be based on utilization of solar energy for producing methanol. Basic design of such a system and feasibility analysis of developing that system has been considered on the subject of the present research work. Basic design and commercial feasibility of the system producing methanol through capturing CO2 from exhaust gases of a power plant and hydrogen produced by using solar energy have done such an integrated system. The main... 

Nowadays, water pollution and water sources decreasion, is one of the important issues of our world. Treatment of polluted water and wastewater and recycling of those to industries and common uses, is very necessary. Dyes, is one of the biggest parts of water pollutants, especially, in textile plants. There are some ways for dye removal, in the industries; including biological, chemical and physical methods. Among of these methods, physical removal of dyes through adsorption (with Activated Carbon or other adsorbents), is very popular. Hydrogels are three-dimensional hydrophilic polymer networks, introducing very good swelling rate, mechanical properties and pollutants adsorption. In this... 

Tissue engineering is a science that tries to create new tissues by using cells, growth factors and appropriate biological materials in order to repair damaged organs and replace parts lost due to various reasons. In this research, the effect of adding mxene sheets on the oxidized alginate-gelatin hydrogel scaffold was investigated. For this purpose, mxene nanosheets were first synthesized by Max phase chemical etching and its synthesis was confirmed by X-ray diffraction spectroscoy, field emission scanning electron microscope, X-ray energy diffraction spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy. Then, in order to prepare the scaffolds, different amounts of... 

This thesis focuses on the preparation and super-swelling behavior of a superabsorbent hydrogel based on natural macro-molecules and loading potassium nitrite as an agro-chemical onto it. 1-In this investigation a new type of superabsorbent hydrogel based on Gelatin and k-Carrageenan was prepared and the effect of the feed ratio of some components (acrylic acid, MBA, APS, and agar) on the swelling capacity of the hydrogel was systematically studied. The structure of the hydrogel optimized final product was found to be 1064 g/g in distilled water. The structure of the hydrogel was characterized by FT_IR method and morphology of the samples was examined by scamming electron microscopy (SEM).... 

Today, hydrogels have various biomedical applications as three-dimensional networks with the ability to absorb and retain water and biological fluids. This study aimed to prepare nanocomposite hydrogels from polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polyethylene glycol, and barium titanate nanoparticles. Gamma radiation at irradiation doses of 25 and 35 kGy was used as the hydrogel's crosslinking agent. The effects of gamma irradiation dose, percentage of polyethylene glycol, and barium titanate composition on the swelling ratio and gel content were investigated. It was observed that the amount of gel content with the addition of polyethylene glycol and barium titanate nanoparticles reduces the gel content and... 

In the past few decades, many attempts have been made to combine the benefits of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. The immobilization of homogeneous catalysts onto the surface of heterogeneous supports is the result of such efforts. In this research, immobilized heterogeneous catalysts were designed and synthesized based on double network hydrogels, which produce from interpenetrating of two biocompatible and biodegradable polymer networks. In order to provide magnetic responsibility and easy separation of catalyst from the reaction mixture, the magnetic nanoparticles were dispersed onto the surface of double network hydrogel. Finally, various metal nanoparticles such as palladium and... 

Hydrogels are polymeric three-dimensional networks able to swell in the presence of an aqueous medium. Hydrogels from natural proteins and polysaccharides are ideal scaffolds for tissue engineering since they resemble the extracellular matrices of tissue comprised of various amino acids and sugar-based macromolecules.The biocompatible and biodegradable hydrogel scaffolds are promising materials for tissue engineering. Here, we report a new class of hydrogels derived from oxidized alginate (OA) and gelatin. The prepared oxidized alginate was shown to be efficient in crosslinking gelatin, leading to hydrogel formation. The effect of degree of oxidation and concentration of OA on the mechanical... 

Today, supercapacitors are an inseparable component of electronic devices such as hybrid cars, telecommunication equipment, and personal electronic devices, and this device is also used to store clean energy. In this research, polyacrylic acid hydrogel was first synthesized to be used as a supercapacitor electrode and polyaniline was used as an electrically conductive polymer in its structure to improve the electrical properties of this hydrogel. To achieve this structure, the previously synthesized polyacrylic acid hydrogel was immersed in a solution of aniline monomer and other components necessary for the aniline polymerization reaction, and after the soaking process was completed, the... 

Mammalian cardiac tissue lacks the ability to effectively self-regenerate following severe damage. The application of external therapeutic agents with strong mechanical properties is needed to restore its function. Even though conventional therapies have several challenges and limitations, injectable hydrogels, with minimally invasive, can significantly improve cardiac tissue regeneration. Extracellular matrices are the most appropriate biomaterials for synthesizing cardiac scaffolds. The human amniotic membrane obtained from the amniotic sac is a readily available, abundant, and inexpensive candidate that has been successfully utilized for the clinical treatment of cardiac diseases.... 

The current research focuses on preparing conductive hydrogels with combined shape memory and actuating under the effect of external stimuli. Two studies were conducted in which hydrogels simultaneously showed shape memory and actuating behaviors. The magnetic carrageenan-based double network hydrogels were prepared in the first part. The presence of magnetic nanoparticles not only strengthened the mechanical properties, but also induced shape memory properties under a magnetic field. These hydrogels had good electrical conductivity and showed successful performance as strain sensors. The hydrogels performed well in simple and complex shape memory experiments in response to the temperature.... 

Lately, a wide application of eco-friendly polysaccharide-based hydrogels in waste water treatment has received enormous attention in the literature. The effluents containing dye materials from the processing industries are washed off into rivers and lakes which can be very harmful to creatures. Low-cost biopolymers and biodegradable adsorbents have been researched to be a good tool to minimize the environmental hazards caused by the industrial effluents by removal of these toxic and carcinogenic dyes from the waste effluents. In this study, an eco-friendly superabsorbent hydrogel was prepared by using of sugarcane bagasse, two hydrophilic monomers, magnetic nanoparticle and methylene... 

Corneal diseases are one of the most common causes of blindness worldwide. The most common way to treat these diseases is to replace the damaged cornea with the donor cornea by corneal transplant. But limitations such as donor tissue deficiency, the risk of disease transmission and transplant rejection have made treatment of these diseases very difficult. A cornea made by tissue engineering can be used as a suitable alternative because of the limitations mentioned for corneal transplantation with donated tissue. At the same time, similarity of the scaffold to normal corneal tissue, both in terms of matrial and structural properties, is essential for proper repair of this scaffold by cells... 

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Despite significant advances in therapeutic interventions for these diseases, the pathophysiology remains incompletely understood. Challenges in drug evaluation include the lack of appropriate clinical trials, such as conventional 2D cell cultures and animal studies, as well as the absence of model systems that can provide complex and patient-specific cardiac functions for diagnosis. Organ-on-a-chip devices have the potential to mimic the body's response to treatments by utilizing microscale cell culture fluid connections and creating realistic models of human organs of interest. Our objective is to develop a... 

In recent years, many efforts have been made in tissue engineering and new methods for the treatment of cartilage damage, with an emphasis on their non-invasive and less aggressive nature. Meanwhile, injectable and in situ forming hydrogels have been considered as a less invasive nature. On the other hand, lack of enough mechanical properties in these hydrogels is one of their main problem. In this study, gelatin and alginate was used to fabricate hydrogel as interpenetrating network (IPN) hydrogel and silica nano particles were also used to increase mechanical properties in the fabricating of hydrogels. Gelatin is also combined with dopamine in order to induce bio adhesive properties of... 

Among various methods for purifying water from dyes, adsorption takes advantage of simplicity, high efficiency, no secondary-pollution, and inexpensiveness. In this project Halloysite nanoparticles were applied to prepare a series of modified polyAcrylamide- quince seed gum hydrogels (QS/PAAm/Haln). The obtained hydrogels demonstrated improved efficiency as adsorbent in removing methylene blue (MB) from aqueous media. The structure of the prepared hydrogel nanocomposites were identified by X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Kinetics, thermodynamic,... 

A novel thermo responsive decorated system is designed by coating Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles with conjugated Pluronic-ATPEG copolymer incorporated into the PEG-PMDA Hydrogel for drug delivery to the cartilage tissue. Grafted copolymer was synthesized by reaction between carboxylated Pluronic and amino terminated Poly ethylene glycol (ATPEG) and confirmed by FTIR and NMR analysis. The magnetic nanoparticles were modified with the produced copolymer and characterized by TEM, HRTEM, XRD, DLS, and VSM. A typical product has 13 nm magnetic core and 105 nm hydrodynamic diameter with narrow size distribution. DLS results showed that there was an increase in size by increasing temperature from 25℃... 

Beta cells are responsible for secreting insulin to maintain normoglycaemia throughout the individual’s life. Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by an autoimmune response that promotes the destruction of beta-cells within the pancreatic islets, resulting in lifelong inadequate insulin secretion. Encapsulating beta cells inside a semipermeable membrane to protect encapsulated cells from direct contact with the host immune system, is a new way to treat type 1 diabetes without the need for long-term immunosuppression. . In this case, the semipermeable membrane surrounds the cells and allows oxygen, nutrients, and cell products to penetrate bilaterally while... 

Poly vinyl alcohol/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites were made through solution casting method. The nanocomposite were characterized by XRD , FTIR , FESEM , DSC and mechanical measurements. Graphene oxide was irradiated by gamma ray at 35 KGy in a 50/50 water-ethanol solution and then added to PVA aqueous solution in various GO concentrations (0.3 , 0.7 , 1 wt%) and sonicated. The resulting suspensions were cast into petri dishes to make thin films. Also PVA/GO Hydrogels were prepared by gamma irradiation at 20 KGy. It was observed that GO uniformly dispersed within PVA indicating strong interaction through forming hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl groups of PVA and GO surface. Tensile... 

Recently, some wound dressings have been designed that are expected to enhance the wound healing process and prevent blood bleeding and infection. Polymeric dressings have attracted attention due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, lack of toxicity, and non-allergenic nature. There is widespread interest in using silk fibroin (SF) for this purpose because of its unique properties. Given these points, we have designed an injectable antioxidant hydrogel wound dressing based on SF and Polydopamine(PDA) modified ZnO nanoparticles. First, ZnO nanoparticles were doped with Cu and then modified with PDA (ZnCuO@PDA). XRD, FTIR, SEM, and TEM characterizations were carried out to confirm the...