Fluorescent Nanocomposite of Embedded Ceria Nanoparticles in Electrospun Chitosan Nanofibers.

This paper introduces a detailed optical characterization for a novel fluorescent biodegradable nanocomposite of electro-spun chitosan nanofibers with in-situ embedded cerium oxide (ceria) nanoparticles as the nanocomposite optical fluorescent material. Under near ultra-violet excitation, this synthesized nanocomposite emits a visible green wavelength at nearly 520nmwith different intensities according to the concentration of the embedded fluorescent material; i.e. ceria nanoparticles. This emission is due to the synthesized ceria nanoparticles optical tri-valiant cerium ions ce3+, associated with formed oxygen vacancies with a direct allowed bandgap around 3.5 eV. Optical characteristics such as fluorescence emission intensity, absorbance dispersion, and direct bandgap are presented besides structural characteristics such as FTIR spectroscopy, and SEM analysis. The synthesized optical nanocomposite could be helpful in many further applications such as bio-imaging, biomedical engineering, and environmental optical sensors.

Embedded Ceria Nanoparticles in Crosslinked PVA Electrospun Nanofibers as Optical Sensors for Radicals.

This work presents a new nanocomposite of cerium oxide (ceria) nanoparticles embedded in electrospun PVA nanofibers for optical sensing of radicals in solutions. Our ceria nanoparticles are synthesized to have O-vacancies which are the receptors for the radicals extracted from peroxide in water solution. Ceria nanoparticles are embedded insitu in PVA solution and then formed as nanofibers using an electrospinning technique. The formed nanocomposite emits visible fluorescent emissions under 430 nm excitation, due to the active ceria nanoparticles with fluorescent Ce(3+) ionization states. When the formed nanocomposite is in contact with peroxide solution, the fluorescence emission intensity peak has been found to be reduced with increasing concentration of peroxide or the corresponding radicals through a fluorescence quenching mechanism. The fluorescence intensity peak is found to be reduced to more than 30% of its original value at a peroxide weight concentration up to 27%. This work could be helpful in further applications of radicals sensing using a solid mat through biomedical and environmental monitoring applications.

Boosting piezoelectric properties of PVDF nanofibers via embedded graphene oxide nanosheets.

Tremendous research efforts have been directed toward developing polymer-based piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENG) in a promising step to investigate self-charging powered systems (SCPSs) and consequently, support the need for flexible, intelligent, and ultra-compact wearable electronic devices. In our work, electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofiber mats were investigated while graphene oxide (GO) was added with different concentrations (from 0 to 3 wt.%). Sonication treatment was introduced for 5 min to GO nanosheets before combined PVDF solution. A comprehensive study was conducted to examine the GO incremental effect. Microstructural and mechanical properties were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a texture analyzer. Moreover, piezoelectric properties were assessed via various tests including impulse response, frequency effect, d33 coefficient, charging and discharging analysis, and sawyer tower circuit. Experimental results indicate that incorporation of GO nanosheets enhances piezoelectric properties for all concentrations, which was linked to the increase in ß phase inside the nanofibers, which has a significant potential of enhancing nanogenerator performance. PVDF-GO 1.5 wt.% shows a notably higher enhancing effect where the electroactive ß-phase and γ-phase are recorded to be boosted to ~ 68.13%, as well as piezoelectric coefficient (d33 ~ 55.57 pC/N). Furthermore, increasing impact force encouraged the output voltage. Also noted that the delivered open circuit voltage is ~ 3671 V/g and the power density is ~ 150 µw/cm2. It was observed that GO of concentration 1.5 wt.% recorded a conversion efficiency of ~ 74.73%. All results are in line, showing better performance for PVDF-GO 1.5 wt.% for almost all concentrations.

Impact of folic acid supplementation on ischemia‒reperfusion-induced kidney injury in rats: folic acid prophylactic role revisited.

Folic acid (FA), with its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, may offer protection against ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. This study investigated whether FA safeguards rat kidneys from IR by targeting high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1), a key inflammatory mediator. Fifty adult male Wistar rats were randomly allocated into four groups: control, IR, IR + FA pretreatment, and FA alone. Compared to controls, IR significantly impaired renal function and elevated levels of malondialdehyde, HMGB1, NF-κB, and caspase 3. FA pretreatment effectively reversed these detrimental changes, protecting renal function and minimizing tissue damage. The FA-alone group showed no significant differences compared to the control group, indicating no adverse effects of FA treatment. Mechanistically, FA inhibited HMGB1 expression and its downstream activation of NF-κB and caspase 3, thereby quelling inflammation and cell death. FA shields rat kidneys from IR-induced injury by suppressing HMGB1-mediated inflammation and apoptosis, suggesting a potential therapeutic avenue for IR-associated kidney damage.

Electrospun PVA Polymer Embedded with Ceria Nanoparticles as Silicon Solar Cells Rear Surface Coaters for Efficiency Improvement.

This paper introduces electrospun nanofibers embedded with ceria nanoparticles as silicon solar cells coaters, showing their influence on the solar cells efficiency. Ceria nanoparticles can be synthesized to have formed oxygen vacancies (O-vacancies), which are associated with converting cerium ions from the Ce4+ state ions to the Ce3+ ones. These O-vacancies follow the rule of improving silicon solar cellconductivity through the hopping mechanism. Besides, under violet excitation, the reduced trivalent cerium Ce3+ ions are directly responsible for down-converting the un-absorbed violet or ultra-violet (UV) wavelengths to a resulted green fluorescence emission at ~520 nm. These are absorbed through the silicon solar cells active layer. When electrospun Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is embedded with ceria nanoparticles on the rear surface of silicon solar cell, a promising enhancement in the behavior of solar cells current⁻voltage (I⁻V) curve is observed. The efficiency has improved by about 24% of its initial value due to the mutual impact of improving both electrical conductivity and optical conversions from the higher surface-to-volume ratio of electrospun nanofibers embedded by ceria nanoparticles. The solar cell efficiency improvement is due to the mutual impact of both optical down-conversion and better electric paths via the used nanocomposite. The added nanostructures coating can utilize part of the transmitted UV or violet spectrum through the cell as optical conversion from violet to the visible region. In addition, the formed active tri-valent states are associated with O-vacancies which can help in a better conductivity of the generated photoelectrons from the cell through the hopping mechanism. The PVA nanofibers host offers a better distribution of ceria nanoparticles and better conductivity paths for the photoelectrons based on the better surface-to-volume ratio of the nanofibers.

Investigation of Conical Spinneret in Generating More Dense and Compact Electrospun Nanofibers.

Electrospinning is an important, widely used process to generate nanofibers. However, there is still an open window for different designs of both spinneret and collector electrodes to be investigated. This paper introduces the impact of new design of conical spinneret electrode on the generated electrospun nanofibers. In this work, the conical feeder is used to generate electrospun Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanofibers, and being compared to the traditional needle feeder at the same processing conditions. The jet's mechanism is simulated using discrete bead model along with estimated calculations of both deposition area and fiber radius. The electric field distribution that is around the charged cone is analyzed. Based on both theoretical modeling and experimental measurements, a comparison of mean diameter, deposited area, and the thickness of generated nanofibers is presented related to both conical and needle electrodes. Conical feeder shows clearly compact nanofibers mat in terms of deposition area (spherical deposition of diameter ~6 cm) up to half-area of needle deposited nanofibers with high fiber density for the same time of the process. Moreover, the conical electrode is found to have privilege in terms of productivity rate and operation time. This study can be useful in generating localized nanofibers within different applications, such as biomedical tissue scaffolds, textile, and sensors.

Fluorescent Nanocomposite of Embedded Ceria Nanoparticles in Crosslinked PVA Electrospun Nanofibers.

This paper introduces a new fluorescent nanocomposite of electrospun biodegradable nanofibers embedded with optical nanoparticles. In detail, this work introduces the fluorescence properties of PVA nanofibers generated by the electrospinning technique with embedded cerium oxide (ceria) nanoparticles. Under near-ultra violet excitation, the synthesized nanocomposite generates a visible fluorescent emission at 520 nm, varying its intensity peak according to the concentration of in situ embedded ceria nanoparticles. This is due to the fact that the embedded ceria nanoparticles have optical tri-valiant cerium ions, associated with formed oxygen vacancies, with a direct allowed bandgap around 3.5 eV. In addition, the impact of chemical crosslinking of the PVA on the fluorescence emission is studied in both cases of adding ceria nanoparticles in situ or of a post-synthesis addition via a spin-coating mechanism. Other optical and structural characteristics such as absorbance dispersion, direct bandgap, FTIR spectroscopy, and SEM analysis are presented. The synthesized optical nanocomposite could be helpful in different applications such as environmental monitoring and bioimaging.