wileyonlinelibrary.com/app 3 Rapid and efficient sprayed multilayer films for controlled drug delivery Bryan B. Hsu, Samantha R. Hagerman and Paula T. Hammond Spray-assisted layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly can be used to coat complex substrates with polyelectrolyte multi-layered films loaded with biologically active components. However, industrial-scale production is prevented by time and cost. Here, containment chambers are used to separately capture aerosolized solutions for each step in the Spray-LbL assembly of (Poly 2/heparin/lysozyme/heparin)n films. The solutions can then be reused, substantially improving reagent recovery. The recycling system produced materials with similar protein loadings, greater loading densities and similar controlled release properties to those formed using conventional technologies. DOI: 10.1002/app.43563 Inkjet printing of polyimide insulators for the 3D printing of dielectric materials for microelectronic applications Fan Zhang, Christopher Tuck, Richard Hague, Yinfeng He, Ehab Saleh, You Li, Craig Sturgess and Ricky Wildman The first continuous fabrication of inkjet-printed polyimide (PI) films is reported. The PI ink was prepared from its precursor poly(amic) acid and directly printed on to a hot substrate, initializing a rapid thermal imidization. By optimizing substrate temperature, droplet spacing and velocity, and other printing parameters, films with good surface morphologies were printed between two conducting layers to fabricate capacitors. The highest capacitance, 2.82 ± 0.64 nF, was achieved by capacitors (10 mm × 10 mm) with PI insulating layers thinner than 1 μm, suggesting the new continuous PI inkjet printing approach is an efficient way to produce dielectric components of microelectronic devices. DOI: 10.1002/app.43361 Preparation of glucose-sensitive and fluorescence micelles via a combination of photoinitiated polymerization and chemoenzymatic transesterification for the controlled release of insulin Xiangxiang Du, Guohua Jiang, Lei Li, Wentong Yang, Hua Chen, Yongkun Liu and Qin Huang A glucose-sensitive and fluorescent amphiphilic copolymer was synthesized by a combination of photoinitiated polymerization and enzymatic transesterification. Subsequent self-assembly produced a combined sensor and drug delivery system. Traditional methods for synthesizing polymer-based drug carriers often rely on organic solvents, initiators, and/or surfactants. This approach avoids these by using the water-soluble UV-activated photoinitiator 2-oxooctanoic acid which also acts as a surfactant to promote the formation of micelles in solution. The micelles are biocompatible and controlled release of insulin loaded into the hydrophobic core was triggered by glucose in vitro. DOI: 10.1002/app.43026 Modulating properties of chemically crosslinked PEG hydrogels via physical entrapment of silk fibroin John C. Bragg, Haeyong Kweon, YouYoung Jo, Kwang Gill Lee and Chien-Chi Lin Crosslinking hydrogels using visible light-initiated thiol-acrylate photopolymerization permits both rapid and efficient crosslinking, and yields hydrolytically degradable hydrogels without the need to synthesize degradable macromers. However, there is a trade-off between gel moduli and gel degradation rates required for use in biomedical applications. Here hybrid poly(ethylene glycol)–silk fibroin (PEG–SF) hydrogels are prepared by physically entrapping SF or sonicated SF to produce a network composed of non-degradable chains, hydrolytically labile thioether ester bonds, and interpenetrating SF fibrils. The properties of the gels are dependent on the concentration and type of SF, making this simple fabrication strategy promising for drug delivery and tissue engineering. DOI: 10.1002/app.43075
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