Elettrofilatura multigetto di compositi a base di biopolimeri rinnovabili

Responsabili di progetto

Claudia Vineis, Hosam El-din El-sayed

Accordo

EGITTO - NRC - National Research Centre of Egypt

Bando

CNR/NRC biennio 2018-2019 2018-2019

Dipartimento

Scienze chimiche e tecnologie dei materiali

Area tematica

Scienze chimiche e tecnologie dei materiali

Stato del progetto

Nuovo

Proposta di ricerca

Abstract
This research proposal is devoted to electrospin biopolymers; namely keratin and sericin, supported on polyvinyl alcohol or poly ethylene oxide using multi-jet electrospinning technique. Multi-jet electrospinning systems can be designed to increase both productivity and coverage area for large scale nanofibre production. This project aims at utilizing proteinic by-products; namely sericin within a degumming effluent, and keratin extracted from coarse wool fibres, feather, or hair, in manufacture of new regenerated fibrous (NRF) materials using multi-jet electrospinning technique.
The proposed project will be beneficiary on both the national and international level. Utilization of unexploited materials in manufacture of NRF has its positive impact on the environment. While sericin will be used as effluents resulted from degumming process of natural silk, the keratinous material will be subjected to the action of cheap non-toxic chemical extraction to obtain a spinnable solution. The said materials will be spun into fibres or spread into films. The chemical and physical properties of the proposed fibres will be assessed using different tools.
The obtained biopolymer-based mat can be utilized in the following fields: a) capture of heavy metal ions from highly contaminated effluents, b) absorption of dyes from discharged water in dye-houses, c) bio-medical applications. Peculiar properties of nanofibrous materials as high surface to volume ratio and high porosity, make them promising candidates for several biomedical applications, such as cell-growth scaffolds, wound dressing and drug delivery systems. In the field of tissue engineering, the production of nanofibre from biopolymers has been widely considered in order to prepare biocompatible 3D scaffolds. Electrospun nanofibrous membranes, due to their unique properties, such as, high surface to volume ratio, high porosity, interconnected pores, pore size tunable from nano to micro range, high permeability and flexibility of design, are highly considered for the production of modern tissue engineering materials.

I- Research Approach and Methodology
1. Scouring of the keratinous substance to remove the superficial fatty matters which act as barrier for any subsequent wet processing. On the other hand, sericin will be obtained by degumming of raw silk in boiled water.
2. Keratin will be extracted from wool by a green process (sulphitolysis with sodium metabisulphite); keratin will be purified by dialysis and freeze drying. Dissolving keratin in water.
3. The viscous keratin or sericin solutions will be mixed with plasticizer to impart tailored desired properties to the final product.
4. Further additive will be added to functionalize the final product to be appropriate for different fields.
Spinning to NRF
Multi-jet electrospinning technique, with different working conditions, will be adopted to develop the NRF. Several multi-jet electrospinning setups and operative conditions will be tested. The number of jets could be varied from 2 to 62, evaluating jet-jet repulsion by measuring the divergence angle and observing the electrospun fibres deposition areas on the collectors, in order to maximize deposition area and productivity.
Analyses
The properties of the final product will be assessed using the tools of each labs.

Mode of cooperation
The experience of the Egyptian and Italian team members covers the field of chemistry, textile materials, biopolymers, and tissue engineering. The Egyptian group has very good experience in dissolution of soluble proteins and their regeneration from aqueous solutions. Professor Hosam El-Sayed and his team has the experience and all the facilities required for production of soluble proteins and their recovery. They have also good experience in the electrospinning the usual chemical analysis and their interpretation are also among the skills of the Egyptian team. The Egyptian team will be responsible for the following:
- Extraction of sericin;
- The degree of solubility of the NRF in cold and hot water, alkali, and urea-bisulphite solution;
- Elemental analysis of the final product;
- Amino acid analysis:
- FT-IR and Ultraviolet/Visible Spectroscopy;
- Thermal analysis by DSC and TGA.
- Application of the formed biopolymer in removal of heavy metal ions (atomic absorption spectroscopy, etc).
- Application of the said composite in removal of selected dyes together with the necessary analyses (colour absorption, COD, BOD)
The Italian team, headed by Dr. Vineis, has a distinguished experience in keratin extraction, purification and transformation, and in multi-jet electrospinning process. The Italian group will be responsible for the following tasks:
- Keratin extraction from wool and purification.
- Multi-jet electrospinning of biopolymer-based composite (prepared by the Egyptian team). Therefore 1 - 2 from the Egyptian team will travel to visit the Italian partner in its lab for about 1 - 2 weeks each year.
- Liquid Chromatography/Electrospray-Mass Spectroscopy;
- Morphological properties of electrospun mats by SEM and LM;
- Physical/Mechanical properties by Dynamometer, Hydrostatic pressure, Air permeability, Thermal conductivity, Contact angle measuring instrument;
- Preparatory tests for cell growth (water stability).

Obiettivi della ricerca

The main objectives of this research proposal are:
1- Proper utilization of renewable waste materials; namely keratin and sericin to decrease pollution resulted from their discharge in the effluent or as a solid material.
2- Removal of pollutants, heavy metal ions/dye, from industrial effluents.
3- Production of tissue engineering materials

Other specific objective of this research proposal is the technology transfer of the multi-jet electrospinning process to the young researchers involved in this research proposal. This technique would enable us to electrospin more than one substance simultaneously, and consequently to produce materials with versatile properties

Expected Outcomes
The creation of research group at the Textile Research Division of the National Research Centre with good experience in multi-jet electrospinning technique is a primary expected outcome of this research proposal; taking into consideration that NRC is currenly purchasing this equipment and supposed to be at the NRC within less than one year.
With the present cooperation, CNR-ISMAC will enhance the competence in electrospinning of bio-based polymers. The exploitation of sericin and keratin as nanofibrous bio-materials would open new research field.
We would expect also to form biopolymer-based composite materials which are suitable for textile and non-textile applications.
At least two publications would be published in internationally recognized journals from this research proposal.

Ultimo aggiornamento: 21/03/2025