Recent Patents on Nanotechnology - Volume 16, Issue 4, 2022

Background: The Covid-19 epidemic was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. It is difficult to foresee the future length and severity; it may extend to weeks, months, or even years to deplete the energy and resources of the health care facilities and the providers as there is marginal to no pharmacological medication available to treat the Covid-19. Unless an effective pharmacological treatment such as medicines and vaccines is developed and released publicly, wearing protective face masks and protecting personal health and hygiene is merely a choice to avoid the Covid-19 spread. This review summarizes the background knowledge on the Covid-19 disease and currently available face masks for highly infectious disease primary prevention. According to recent studies of Covid-19 prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, nanotechnologists have provided a revolutionary approach that involves both pharmacological and non-pharmacological steps, one of which is the use of nanofibers in facemasks and respirators. Methods: Various researches carried out in the field of nanomask and patented reports based on the application of nanomask were reviewed. Conclusion: The most recent developments of nanofibers, including research publications, patents and commercial products in Covid-19 prevention, are extensively reviewed from scientific literature and appropriately represented in this study.

Background: Nanotechnology is the need of the hour! The design of nanotechnologyaided carriers as a tool for the delivery of low solubility molecules offers a potential platform to overcome the issues of current clinical treatment and achieve good targeted release and bioaccessibility. Objective: Nanosponges (NS) encapsulate types of nanocarriers capable of carrying both lipophilic and hydrophilic substances. They are synthesized by mixing a solution of polyester, which is biodegradable, with cross-linkers. These tiny, porous structures are round-shaped, having multiple cavities wherein drugs can be housed to offer programmable release. Methods: The detailed literature review and patent search summarize the ongoing research on NS. Substances such as poorly soluble drugs, nutraceuticals, gases, proteins and peptides, volatile oils, genetic material, etc., can be loaded on these novel carriers, which are characterized using various analytical techniques. Target-specific drug delivery and controlled drug release are the advantages offered by NS, along with a myriad of other promising applications. Results: This review stresses the development of cyclodextrin-based NS, the synthetic methods and characterization of NS, along with factors affecting NS formation, their applications and information on the patented work in this area. NS are solid in character and can be formulated in various dosage forms, such as parenteral, topical, oral or inhalation. Conclusion: Therefore, owing to their promising benefits over other nanocarriers in terms of drug loading, adaptability, sustainability, solubility and tailored release profile, NS is an immediate technological revolution for drug entrapment and as novel drug carriers.The authors expect that these fundamental applications of NS could help the researchers to develop and gain insight about NS in novel drug delivery applications.

Background: In the recent years, Micelles represent a promising carrier for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer. Architecturally, micelles are self-assembled nanosized colloidal aggregates prepared from amphiphilic surfactant with a hydrophobic core and hydrophilic shell. Such a composition makes them a potential carrier for delivery of hydrophobic anticancer drugs with in their core. Methods: Micelles have received increasing interest as an enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) targeted drug delivery systems for cancer treatment. Micelles can be modified to contribute various attractive properties, for instance, active targeting, stimuli-responsiveness. They have also proven their ability in drug targeting to tumor tissue, enhanced drug accumulation, drug stabilization, tissue penetration, prolong circulation, in vivo biocompatibility, biodegradability and reduced side effects. Micelles have displayed a vital role in multidrug delivery for cancer therapy. Results and Discussion: The aim of the present review is to provide an overview on the status of micellar nanoformulations for anticancer agents, including their pre-clinical and clinical researches. Emphasis is placed on presenting the newer strategies to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of anticancer drug at the target site. The type of co-polymers used and methods for the preparation of micelles are also highlighted in the paper.

Nanotechnology in association with herbal medicine can lead to enhanced therapeutic and diminished adverse effects of medication. In turn, it can lead to synergistic effects of administered compound overcoming its demerits. Nowadays, the trend of herbal compounds to treat even a small illness is gaining momentum. Gone are the days when the ineffectiveness of a compound was impossible to be dealt with. Nevertheless, in this competitive era of science and innovative technology, it has become possible to maximize the usefulness of ineffective yet potent herbal compounds. The demand for herbal compounds is getting amplified because of their ability to treat a myriad of diseases, including COVID-19, showing fewer side effects. The merger of nanotechnology with traditional medicine augments the potential of herbal drugs for devastating dangerous and chronic diseases like cancer. In this review article, we have tried to assimilate the complete information regarding the use of different nanocarriers to overcome the drawbacks of herbal compounds. In addition, all the recent advancements in the herbal field, as well as the future exploration to be emphasized, have been discussed.

The major requirement for a dosage form to be successful is its ability to penetrate the site of application and the bioavailability of the drug released from the dosage form. The buccal drug delivery is an influential route to deliver the drug into the body. Here, in this context, various novel approaches that include lipoidal carriers like ethosomes, transferosomes, niosomes etc. and electrospun nanofibers are discussed, with respect to buccal drug delivery. These carriers can be easily incorporated into buccal dosage forms like patches and gels that are responsible for increased permeation across the buccal epithelium. The in vivo methods of evaluation on animal models are conscribed here. The novel biocarriers of lipoidal and non-lipoidal nature can be utilized by loading the drug into them, which are helpful in preventing drug degradation and other drawbacks as compared to conventional formulations. The globally patented buccal formulations give us a wide context in literature about the patents filed and granted in the recent years. When it comes to patient compliance, age is an issue, which is also solved by the buccal route. The pediatric buccal formulations are researched for the customization to be delivered to children. Diseases like mouth ulcers, oral cancer, Parkinson’s disease, aphthous stomatitis etc. have been successfully treated through the buccal route, which infers that the buccal drug delivery system is an effective and emerging area for formulation and development in the field of pharmaceutics.

With the continuous miniaturization in device dimension to reach the expectation raised by semiconductor users, the shape and size of the MOSFET are changing periodically. The journey started in the year 1960, reached the milestone, and still going on to create history. Due to continuous downscaling, the device dimensions have already reached the critical limit and further miniaturization is a challenge. As a result of which some unwanted effects were raised unknowingly to suppress the device performances while entering into nanoscale. To overcome these kinds of barriers, different device architectures were proposed to keep the journey on. This paper focused on those types of advanced structures in MOSFET, which kept Moore’s law alive.

Background: Hydrothermal method was used to prepare TiO2-ZrO2 and Eu doped TiO2-ZrO2 nanocomposites for dye sensitized solar cell app lication. Methods: X-ray diffraction was used to study the structural properties of prepared samples. Anatase and Rutile phases of TiO2 and Monoclinic and tetragonal phases of ZrO2 have been detected from XRD in prepared samples. The crystallite size of prepared samples lies between 6 to 18 nm. Absorption edge has been shifted to the longer wavelength region. The optical bandgap of TiO2-ZrO2 (2.15 eV) and Eu doped TiO2-ZrO2 nanocomposites (2.03 eV) have been calculated using Tauc’s plot. A decrease in bandgap compared to pure TiO2 has been observed. The increased refractive index has been determined from UV -Visible spectra. Results: Because of the high refractive index photons can stay for longer period of time inside the material and then they can be used to generate electrons in dye sensitized solar cell. An attempt was made to prepare an inexpensive dye sensitized solar cell by replacing synthetic organic dye with natural dye (pomegranate juice) and platinum coated counter electrode by carbon coated electrode. The improvement in efficiency has been recorded for prepared samples and it has been found to be 0.71%, 1.97% and 6.25% for TiO2, TiO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite and Eu doped TiO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite respectively. Conclusion: A simple and cost-effective DSSC prepared by materials is capable of producing a good amount photocurrent.