Development of composite hydrogel based on hydroxyapatite mineralization over pectin reinforced with cellulose nanocrystal.

Hydrogels based on pectin and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were used in our study to nucleation and growth of hydroxyapatite (HAp) by the biomimetic method. In this study, we evaluated the direct impact of the different percentages of CNC on pectin hydrogel and the influence of HAp obtained through two methods. CNC were obtained from HCl hydrolysis following chemical functionalization through vinyl groups. The percentage of CNC positively induces thermal stability, mechanical properties and HAp mineralization from biomimetic using simulated body fluid (1.5 SBF). Hydrogels with 5% of CNC showed a higher amount of HAp immersed for 14 days, about 28% of HAp. The obtained hydrogels were compared with hydrogels containing 20% of HAp nanoparticles obtained by chemical precipitation. Biocompatibility of the hydrogels was evaluated by cell viability using fibroblasts (L929). In general, the hydrogels obtained through the biomimetic method show slightly larger biocompatibility compared to the hybrid hydrogels obtained from chemical precipitation.

Designing hybrid materials with multifunctional interfaces for wound dressing, electrocatalysis, and chemical separation.

An infinite number of possibilities can emerge from the combination of phases in hybrid systems. Interfacing phases is a strategy to obtain a set of properties in one system that are beyond the abilities of single phases. Herein, the progress in materials science exploring hybrid systems are discussed from the point of view of three important applications: wound dressing; electrocatalysis; and chemical separation. These three unrelated applications exemplify the broad impact of hybrid materials, which can be coherently designed to achieve outstanding performance. Many inspiring works have been published in the last few years, remodeling the edges of human knowledge on hybrid materials. However, the challenges in the coherent design seem to rely on the development of synthetic processes to achieve stronger integration among the phases in a hybrid material.