Facile preparation of self-assembled hydrogel-like GdPO4*H2O nanorods.
Of the methods employed in the preparation of one-dimensional lanthanide phosphate (LnPO(4)) nanorods/nanowires, such as GdPO(4), the hydrothermal method has been mainly used as a synthetic route. In this study, we report a facile low-temperature solution approach to prepare GdPO 4*H(2)O nanorods by simply refluxing GdCl(3) and KH(2)PO(4) for only 15 min at 88 degrees C, an approach that can easily be scaled up by increasing the reagent amounts. We observed a highly viscous macroscopic hydrogel-like material when we mixed as-prepared GdPO(4)*H(2)O nanomaterials with H(2)O. Hydrogels are an important class of biomaterials. Their building blocks, normally formed from protein-, peptide-, polymer-, and lipid-based materials, offer three-dimensional scaffolds for drug delivery, tissue engineering, and biosensors. Our preliminary results showed that GdPO(4)*H(2)O hydrogels could be used for encapsulation and drug release, and that they were biocompatible, acting as scaffolds to foster cell proliferation. These findings suggested that they might have biomedical uses. Our findings may lead to the creation of other inorganic nanomaterial-based hydrogels apart from the organic and biomolecular protein-, peptide-, polymer-, and lipid-based building blocks.
Department of Chemistry, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1 University Road, Tainan City, Taiwan..
Chih-Chia
CC
Huang
Yi-Wei
YW
Lo
Wen-Shuo
WS
Kuo
Jih-Ru
JR
Hwu
Wu-Chou
WC
Su
Dar-Bin
DB
Shieh
Chen-Sheng
CS
Yeh
D000818:Animals; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D005682:Gadolinium / Q000737:chemistry*; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010710:Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014709:Vero Cells; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
D010710:Phosphates; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate; D005682:Gadolinium