Multifunctional Hybrid MoS2-PEGylated/Au Nanostructures with Potential Theranostic Applications in Biomedicine.

In this work, flower-like molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) microspheres were produced with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to form MoS2-PEG. Likewise, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were added to form MoS2-PEG/Au to investigate its potential application as a theranostic nanomaterial. These nanomaterials were fully characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoelectron X-ray spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The produced hierarchical MoS2-PEG/Au microstructures showed an average diameter of 400 nm containing distributed gold nanoparticles, with great cellular viability on tumoral and non-tumoral cells. This aspect makes them with multifunctional characteristics with potential application for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Through the complete morphological and physicochemical characterization, it was possible to observe that both MoS2-PEG and MoS2-PEG/Au showed good chemical stability and demonstrated noninterference in the pattern of the cell nucleus, as well. Thus, our results suggest the possible application of these hybrid nanomaterials can be immensely explored for theranostic proposals in biomedicine.

Micro Scalable Graphene Oxide Productions Using Controlled Parameters in Bench Reactor.

The detailed study of graphene oxide (GO) synthesis by changing the graphite/oxidizing reagents mass ratios (mG/mROxi), provided GO nanosheets production with good yield, structural quality, and process savings. Three initial samples containing different amounts of graphite (3.0 g, 4.5 g, and 6.0 g) were produced using a bench reactor under strictly controlled conditions to guarantee the process reproducibility. The produced samples were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), x-ray diffraction (XDR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetry (TGA) techniques. The results showed that the major GO product comprised of nanosheets containing between 1-5 layers, with lateral size up to 1.8 µm. Therefore, it was possible to produce different batches of graphene oxide with desirable physicochemical characteristics, keeping the amount of oxidizing reagent unchanged. The use of different proportions (mG/mROxi) is an important strategy that provides to produce GO nanostructures with high structural quality and scale-up, which can be well adapted in medium-sized bench reactor.

Study of Friction and Wear Effects in Aluminum Parts Manufactured via Single Point Incremental Forming Process Using Petroleum and Vegetable Oil-Based Lubricants.

This paper focuses on studying how mineral oil, sunflower, soybean, and corn lubricants influence friction and wear effects during the manufacturing of aluminum parts via the single point incremental forming (SPIF) process. To identify how friction, surface roughness, and wear change during the SPIF of aluminum parts, Stribeck curves were plotted as a function of the SPIF process parameters such as vertical step size, wall angle, and tool tip semi-spherical diameter. Furthermore, lubricant effects on the surface of the formed parts are examined by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, the Alicona optical 3D measurement system, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Results show that during the SPIF process of the metallic specimens, soybean and corn oils attained the highest friction, along forces, roughness, and wear values. Based on the surface roughness measurements, it can be observed that soybean oil produces the worst surface roughness finish in the direction perpendicular to the tool passes (Ra =1.45 µm) considering a vertical step size of 0.25 mm with a 5 mm tool tip diameter. These findings are confirmed through plotting SPIFed Stribeck curves for the soybean and corn oils that show small hydrodynamic span regime changes for an increasing sample step-size forming process. This article elucidates the effects caused by mineral and vegetable oils on the surface of aluminum parts produced as a function of Single Point Incremental Sheet Forming process parameters.

Carbon Nanotori Structures for Thermal Transport Applications on Lubricants.

Carbon nanostructures have been recently applied to improve industrial manufacturing processes and other materials; such is the case for lubricants used in the metal-mechanic industry. Nanotori are toroidal carbon nanostructures, obtained from chemical treatment of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This material has been shown to have superb anti-wear and friction reduction performance, having the ability to homogeneously disperse within water in concentrations between 1-2 wt.%. Obtained results of these novel nanostructures under water mixtures and novel additives were a set point to our studies in different industrial lubricants. In the present work, nanotori structures have been applied in various filler fractions as reinforcement to evaluate the behavior in thermal transport of water-based (WB) and oil-based (OB) lubricants. Temperature-dependent experiments to evaluate the thermal conductivity were performed using a thermal water bath ranging from room temperature up to 323 K. The obtained results showed a highly effective and favorable improvement in the heat transport of both lubricants; oil-based results were better than water-based results, with nanotori structures increasing the lubricants' thermal transport properties by 70%, compared to pure lubricant.

Thermal Conductivity Performance of 2D hBN/MoS2/Hybrid Nanostructures Used on Natural and Synthetic Esters.

In this paper, the thermal conductivity behavior of synthetic and natural esters reinforced with 2D nanostructures-single hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), single molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), and hybrid h-BN/MOS2-were studied and compared to each other. As a basis for the synthesis of nanofluids, three biodegradable insulating lubricants were used: FR3TM and VG-100 were used as natural esters and MIDEL 7131 as a synthetic ester. Two-dimensional nanosheets of h-BN, MoS2, and their hybrid nanofillers (50/50 ratio percent) were incorporated into matrix lubricants without surfactants or additives. Nanofluids were prepared at 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.25 weight percent of filler fraction. The experimental results revealed improvements in thermal conductivity in the range of 20-32% at 323 K with the addition of 2D nanostructures, and a synergistic behavior was observed for the hybrid h-BN/MoS2 nanostructures.