RESUMO
The most common material used for blood bags is PVC, which requires the addition of DEHP to increase its flexibility. DEHP is known to cross the polymer barrier and move into the stored blood and, ultimately, the patient's bloodstream. In this work, an alternative prototype composed of SEBS/PP was fabricated through blow-moulding and compared with the commercially available PVC-based blood bag which was designated as the control. The blow-moulded sample layers were welded together using CO2 lasers and optimized to obtain complete sealing of the sides. The samples' performance characteristics were analyzed using water permeability, oxygen permeability, shelf-life, and bioburden tests. The SEBS/PP sample exhibited the highest oxygen permeability rate of 1486.6 cc/m2/24 h after 40 days of ageing, indicating that the sample is conducive for red blood cell (RBC) respiration. On the other hand, the SEBS/PP sample showcased a lower water permeability rate of 0.098 g/h m2 after 40 days of aging, indicating a high-water barrier property and thus preventing water loss during storage. In comparison, the oxygen and water permeability rates of PVC-DEHP were found to be distinctly lower in performance (662.7 cc/m2/24 h and 0.221 g/h m2, respectively). In addition, shelf-life analyses revealed that after 40 days of ageing, polymer samples exhibited no visual damage or degradation. The optimal parameters to obtain adequate welding of the SEBS/PP were determined to be power of 60% (18 W), speed of 70 in/sec and 500 Pulse Per Inch (PPI). Furthermore, the bioburden estimates of SEBS/PP of 115 CFU are markedly lower compared to the bioburden estimate of PVC-DEHP of 213 CFU. The SEBS/PP prototype can potentially be an effective alternative to PVC-based blood bags, particularly for high-risk patients in order to reduce the likelihood of medical issues.
Assuntos
Dietilexilftalato , Soldagem , Humanos , Lasers , Oxigênio , Permeabilidade , PolímerosRESUMO
A sustainable super-hydrophobic coating composed of silica from palm oil fuel ash (POFA) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was synthesised using isopropanol as a solvent and coated on a glass substrate. FESEM and AFM analyses were conducted to study the surface morphology of the coating. The super-hydrophobicity of the material was validated through goniometry, which showed a water contact angle of 151°. Cytotoxicity studies were conducted by assessing the cell viability and cell morphology of mouse fibroblast cell line (L929) and hamster lung fibroblast cell line (V79) via tetrazolium salt 3-(4-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and microscopic methods, respectively. The clonogenic assay was performed on cell line V79 and the cell proliferation assay was performed on cell line L929. Both results validate that the toxicity of PDMS: SS coatings is dependent on the concentration of the super-hydrophobic coating. The results also indicate that concentrations above 12.5 mg/mL invariably leads to cell toxicity. These results conclusively support the possible utilisation of the synthesised super-hydrophobic coating for biomedical applications.
RESUMO
This article demonstrates a novel nanoscale surface modification method to enhance the selectivity of porous poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) in removing oil from water. The surface modification method is simple and low cost by using sugar as a sacrificial template for temporal adhering of carbon nanotubes (CNT) before addition of PDMS prepolymer to encapsulate the CNT on its surface once polymerized. The PDMS-CNT demonstrated a tremendous increase in absorption capacity up to 3-fold compared to previously reported absorbents composed solely of PDMS. Besides showcasing excellent absorption capacity, the PDMS-CNT also shows a faster absorption rate (25 s) as compared to that of pure PDMS (40 s). The enhanced absorption rate is due to the incorporation of CNT, which roughens the surface of the polymer at the nanoscale and lowers the surface energy of porous PDMS while at the same time increasing the absorbent hydrophobicity and oleophilicity. This property makes the absorbent unique in absorbing only oil but repelling water at the same time. The PDMS-CNT is an excellent absorbent material with outstanding recyclability and selectivity for removing oil from water.