Soft Materials-Based Biosensing Medical Applications (eBook)

Deepak Gupta, Milan Singh, Rishabha Malviya, Sonali Sundram (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
981 Seiten
Wiley-Scrivener (Verlag)
978-1-394-21473-0 (ISBN)

Infos

The book offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview of how innovative soft materials are revolutionizing biosensing technologies, making it an essential read for anyone interested in cutting-edge advancements in biomedical research and healthcare.

Soft materials include granular materials, foams, gels, polymers, surfactants, functional organics, and biological molecules. These structures can be altered by thermal or mechanical stress due to their ability to self-organize into mesoscopic physical structures. They are becoming increasingly significant as functional materials for broader applications because of their rich surface chemistry and versatile functions.

A biosensor is an analytical tool for chemical compound detection that combines a biological element with a physicochemical detector. Sensitive biological components, such as proteins, carbohydrates, tissue, bacteria, and enzymes, are collected from a biomimetic element that interacts and binds with the analyte under investigation. In biosensors, soft matter may function as both a sensing and transducing component. The interplay of soft matter with biomolecular analytes results in cell signaling pathways, diagnostic tests for applications in low-resource environments, prospective drug development, molecular biodetection, chemical sensors, and biological sensors. Understanding these biomolecular interactions in the context of acute illnesses is critical for biomedical research and healthcare. This has fueled efforts to create a biosensor that is effective, low-cost, and label-free.

Several approaches using soft materials to functionalize and tailor structures have greatly advanced science, including chemistry, physics, pharmaceutical science, materials science, and engineering. Soft Materials-Based Biosensing Medical Applications summarizes recent advances in soft materials with unique physicochemical properties that synergistically promote biosensing systems.

Audience

The book will be read by researchers, materials scientists, electronic and AI engineers, as well as pharmaceutical and biomedical professionals interested in the uses of biosensing.

Deepak Gupta, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Basic and Applied Sciences at Galgotias University, India. He has two patents to his credit, has published more than nine research papers, and has attended and organized more than 20 national and international conferences and workshops. His areas of interest include liquid crystals, molecular electronics, soft matter computation, and computational chemistry.

Milan Singh, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Galgotias University, with more than six years of research experience. She has published 12 articles in international journals of repute. Her areas of interest include energy storage devices, supercapacitors, Li-ion batteries, nanoscience, nanotechnology, nanofibers, and nanocomposites.

Rishabha Malviya, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy, School of Medical and Allied Sciences, Galgotias University, with over 12 years of research experience. He has authored more than 150 research papers for national and international journals of repute, edited twelve books, and has been granted 15 patents, with 40 more under evaluation. He also serves as an editorial board member for more than 40 journals. His areas of interest include formulation optimization, nanoformulation, targeted drug delivery, artificial intelligence in healthcare, localized drug delivery, and natural polymers as pharmaceutical excipients.

Sonali Sundram, PhD, is a researcher in Galgotias University, Greater Noida, India. She has worked as a research scientist at King George's Medical University, Lucknow. Her PhD (Pharmacy) work was in the area of neurodegeneration and nanoformulation and her area of interest is neurodegeneration, clinical research, and artificial intelligence. She has authored/edited more than 30 books and has more than eight patents national and international in her credit.

Textauszug

1
Introduction to Soft Materials

Athul Satya and Ayon Bhattacharjee*

Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Meghalaya, India

Abstract

Soft materials are a class of materials having properties intermediate between fluids and crystals. Colloids, liquid crystals, foams, gels, and polymer solutions are some examples of soft materials. The study of soft materials began with Alberts Einstein’s work on Brownian motion. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes has been referred to as the “father of soft matter.” The most important characteristics of soft materials include Brownian motion due to thermal fluctuation, short-range order of intermolecular forces, and its self-assembling tendency due to reaction-limited aggregation (RLA) and diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA). Soft materials experience a repulsive force because all the particles obey the Pauli-exclusion principle.

Keywords: Soft materials, Brownian motion, colloids, liquid crystals, polymers

List of Abbreviations

DLA	Diffusion-Limited Aggregation

LCs	Liquid Crystals

LCD	Liquid Crystal Display

PVC	Poly Vinyl Chloride

RLA	Reaction-Limited Aggregation

SEM	Scanning Electron Microscopy

TBDA	terephthalylidene-bis-[4-n-decylaniline]

TEM	Transmission Electron Microscopy

1.1 Introduction

Soft materials are a class of materials that include liquid crystals (LCs), colloids, foams, gels, and polymer solutions. Soft materials have complex properties intermediate between those of fluids and crystals, and they resemble naturally occurring systems like membranes and tissue systems. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes has been referred to as the “father of soft matter.” In 1991, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking work demonstrating that the methods used to understand order phenomena in basic systems can be extended to the more complex field of soft matter. Specifically, de Gennes’s research focused on the properties of LCs and polymers, two important classes of soft materials [1, 2]. Because of their huge molecular scale and entangled structure, soft materials such as polymers display distinctive dynamic behavior. The idea of reptation scaling theory provides a framework for understanding and describing the motion of entangled polymer chains. de Gennes and Edward’s reptation model describes the dynamics of polymer chains in a melt by imagining them flowing within a tube. Entanglements and topological limitations imposed by interactions with other chains are shown by the tube. This model has proven significant in understanding polymer dynamics and rheology by providing insights into the behavior and mobility of polymer chains in melts. According to this hypothesis, the relaxation period in entangled systems is proportional to the cube of molecule mass. It was Pierre de Gennes who developed the concept of polymer reptation and derived scaling relationships. Later, another scientist from Cambridge, Sir Sam Edwards, devised tube models and predictions of the shear relaxation modulus. Based on the architecture, there are different kinds of molecular structures such as flexible coil, rigid rod, cyclic polymers, and polyrotaxane structures as shown in Figure 1.1. There are certain cross-linked structures such as loosely cross-linked polymers, densely cross-linked polymers, and interpenetrating networks. At the same time, there are branched structures such as random-short, random-long, regular comb, regular short-branched, and star-branched structures. Another class of soft materials is called dendritic, which consists of random hyperbranched, dendrigrafts, dendrons, and dendrimers [3].

Figure 1.1 Different types of molecular architecture. (a) Flexible coil, (b) rigid rod, (c) polyrotaxane, (d) cyclic, (e) branched, (f) comb-branched, (g) star-branched, (h) loosely cross-linked, (i) tightly crosslinked, (j) interpenetrating network, (k) random hyperbranched, (l) dendrigrafts, and (m) dendrons.

1.2 Brief Introduction to Theories of Soft Matter

Soft matter systems have micrometer-scale diameters, resulting in their typical short-range order. By simplifying the system and focusing on essential elements, coarse-grained models successfully reflect the behavior of soft matter. Brownian motion, which is caused by continual random motion, is a significant characteristic of soft matter, particularly colloidal particles. The ability of soft matter to self-assemble is an important trait that drives the development of complex structures. The Lennard–Jones potential, which accounts for van der Waals attractions and hard-sphere repulsion, is frequently used to explain interactions in soft materials. These theories will be discussed in detail in subsequent sections, providing further insights into soft matter phenomena.

1.3 Classification of Soft Materials

Soft materials can be classified into colloids, polymers, foams, gels, LCs, and biological membranes based on the structures and properties that they exhibit.

1.3.1 Colloids

A colloid has sub-μm particles (but not single molecules) of one phase dispersed in a continuous phase. The size scale of the dispersed phase is between 1 nm and 1 μm [4, 5]. The dispersed phase and the continuous phase can consist of either a solid (S), liquid (L), or gas (G). In a combination of any two of these phases, however, there is no gas-in-gas colloid because there is no interfacial tension between gases [6]. Figure 1.2 shows an example of a colloidal structure made by an element of gold [22]. The classification of colloids is shown in Table 1.1.

There are several ways for the preparation of colloids such as physical, chemical, as well as some dispersion methods, among which the given two methods are the most important:

1. Physical method: Large-size particles can be dispersed into the colloidal dimensions by spraying, milling, or shaking and mixing.
2. Chemical method: Using redox reactions, condensation, and precipitation, small, dissolved molecules can be condensed into larger colloidal particles.

Figure 1.2 TEM image of a colloid aggregate of gold showing DLA structure [22].

Table 1.1 Classification of colloids.

Dispersed phase	Continuous phase	Name	Examples

Liquid/Solid

Gas

Aerosol

Fog, hair spray, and smoke

Gas

Liquid/Solid

Foam

Beer froth, shaving foam, and poly(urethane) foam

Liquid

Liquid/Solid

Emulsion

Mayonnaise and salad dressing

Solid

Liquid

Sol

Latex paint and toothpaste

Solid

Solid

Solid suspension

Pearl and mineral rocks

The wettability of colloidal particles and the interactions that occur at the particle-surface contact are critical in determining the structure and equilibrium characteristics of interfaces that include colloidal particles [29]. The interactions of colloidal particles trapped at a fluid interface differ from those found in three-dimensional systems. This is because the fluid interface serves as a constrained habitat for the colloidal particles. A colloidal particle is thought to be linked to a fluctuating surface that divides two distinct phases with differing physicochemical properties, such as density, dielectric permittivity, and ionic strength. The properties of colloidal particle surfaces can be impacted by a variety of parameters, including the assembled size, shape, charge, wettability, and surface chemistry of the object. These characteristics influence the behavior of the interface, making it challenging to develop an analytical account of the interactions that occur in systems where colloids are confined at fluid interfaces. There are certain forces that influence the assembly of colloidal particles. These forces are divided mainly into two categories: direct interactions and external interactions.

Direct interactions are naturally tied to colloidal object properties such as size, shape, the chemical composition of the surface, the charge carried by the colloidal particles, and their roughness. These parameters regulate the attractive or repulsive forces experienced by the particles and impact their arrangement at the contact as shown in Figure 1.3. External interactions, on the other hand, are connected with the presence of external fields operating on single objects or groups of particles. These fields can impose forces such as electric, magnetic, or gravitational forces on colloidal particles, affecting their placement and alignment [7].

The interfacial area of the colloid is an important factor that affects the behavior of colloids. For a spherical particle having radius r, the ratio of surface area to volume is

(1.1)

The interface becomes more significant when the size of the particles is small. Consider a...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 28.3.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Chemie
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Maschinenbau
• ISBN-10: 1-394-21473-1 / 1394214731
• ISBN-13: 978-1-394-21473-0 / 9781394214730