Macromolecules Innovation Institute (MII)
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The Macromolecules Innovation Institute at Virginia Tech (MII) is a university-wide research and education institute, representing a group of faculty, students, and staff dedicated to fostering an interdisciplinary understanding of the macromolecular sciences and technologies. Collectively, we offer a variety of educational, research, and professional interaction opportunities to our students. We also provide industry collaborators with training opportunities through short courses and offer opportunities for unique collaboration through sharing our laboratories, facilities, and expertise.
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Scholarly Works, Macromolecules Innovation Institute (MII) [38]
Research articles, presentations, and other scholarship
Recent Submissions
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Isolation of Thermally Stable Cellulose Nanocrystals from Spent Coffee Grounds via Phosphoric Acid Hydrolysis
(2020-02-01)As the world's population exponentially grows, so does the need for the production of food, with cereal production growing annually from an estimated 1.0 billion to 2.5 billion tons within the last few decades. This rapid ... -
Biodegradable Poly(Lactic Acid) Nanocomposites for Fused Deposition Modeling 3D Printing
(MDPI, 2020-12-21)3D printing by fused deposition modelling (FDM) enables rapid prototyping and fabrication of parts with complex geometries. Unfortunately, most materials suitable for FDM 3D printing are non-degradable, petroleum-based ... -
Homogeneous nanodiscs of native membranes formed by stilbene-maleic-acid copolymers
(2020-08-28)Methylstilbene-alt-maleic acid copolymers spontaneously convert biological membranes into bilayer discs with similar to 20 nm diameters. This readily functionalizable class of copolymers has the compositional homogeneity, ... -
Bulk and interfacial interactions between hydroxypropyl-cellulose and bile salts: Impact on the digestion of emulsified lipids
(2020-09)Hydroxypropyl-cellulose (HPC) is a surface-active, non-digestible polysaccharide, commonly used in food emulsions as thickener and/or emulsifier. Due to these dual characteristics, HPC is a potential ingredient to modulate ... -
Novel Electrospun Pullulan Fibers Incorporating Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin: Morphology and Relation with Rheological Properties
(MDPI, 2020-10-31)Fibers produced by electrospinning from biocompatible, biodegradable and naturally occurring polymers have potential advantages in drug delivery and biomedical applications because of their unique functionalities. Here, ... -
Antibacterial efficacy of core-shell nanostructures encapsulating gentamicin against an in vivo intracellular Salmonella model
(Dove Medical Press, 2009-01-01)Pluronic based core-shell nanostructures encapsulating gentamicin were designed in this study. Block copolymers of (PAA(+/-)Na-b-(PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO)-b-PAA(+/-)Na) were blended with PAA(-) Na(+) and complexed with the ... -
Development of Recyclable and High-Performance In Situ Hybrid TLCP/Glass Fiber Composites
(MDPI, 2020-08-24)By combining the concepts of in situ thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (TLCP) composites and conventional fiber composites, a recyclable and high-performance in situ hybrid polypropylene-based composite was successfully ... -
Isocyanate- and solvent-free synthesis of melt processible polyurea elastomers derived from urea as a monomer
(2020-05-18)Polyurea elastomers are utilized for a myriad of applications ranging from coatings and foams to dielectric materials for capacitors and actuators. However, current synthetic methods for polyureas rely on highly reactive ... -
Strong graphene oxide nanocomposites from aqueous hybrid liquid crystals
(2020-02-11)Combining polymers with small amounts of stiff carbon-based nanofillers such as graphene or graphene oxide is expected to yield low-density nanocomposites with exceptional mechanical properties. However, such nanocomposites ... -
Exceptional capacitive deionization rate and capacity by block copolymer–based porous carbon fibers
(American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2020-04-17)Capacitive deionization (CDI) is energetically favorable for desalinating low-salinity water. The bottlenecks of current carbon-based CDI materials are their limited desalination capacities and time-consuming cycles, caused ... -
Gradient Poly(ethylene glycol) Diacrylate and Cellulose Nanocrystals Tissue Engineering Composite Scaffolds via Extrusion Bioprinting
(2019-10-18)Bioprinting has advanced drastically in the last decade, leading to many new biomedical applications for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, there are still a myriad of challenges to overcome, with vast ... -
Fabrication and characterization of PLGA nanoparticles encapsulating large CRISPR–Cas9 plasmid
(2020-01-20)Background The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and Cas9 protein system is a revolutionary tool for gene therapy. Despite promising reports of the utility of CRISPR–Cas9 for in vivo gene ... -
Mitigation of bidirectional solute flux in forward osmosis via membrane surface coating of zwitterion functionalized carbon nanotubes
(Elsevier, 2019-07-08)Forward osmosis (FO) has emerged as a promising membrane technology to yield high-quality reusable water from various water sources. A key challenge to be solved is the bidirectional solute flux (BSF), including reverse ... -
Synthesis, characterization, and luminescent properties of two new Zr(IV) metal-organic frameworks based on anthracene derivatives
(2018-09)Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline materials constructed from metal ions or clusters, connected by multidentate organic ligands. Herein, we describe the synthesis and photophysical properties of two Zr-based, ... -
Continuous flow synthesis of a pharmaceutical intermediate: a computational fluid dynamics approach
(2019-03-01)Continuous flow chemistry has the potential to greatly improve efficiency in the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs); however, the optimization of these processes can be complicated by a large number of ... -
Control of Stratification in Drying Particle Suspensions via Temperature Gradients
(2019-03-26)A potential strategy for controlling stratification in a drying suspension of bidisperse particles is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. When the suspension is maintained at a constant temperature during fast ... -
Low-cost sensor-integrated 3D-printed personalized prosthetic hands for children with amniotic band syndrome: A case study in sensing pressure distribution on an anatomical human-machine interface (AHMI) using 3D-printed conformal electrode arrays
(PLOS, 2019)Interfacing anatomically conformal electronic components, such as sensors, with biology is central to the creation of next-generation wearable systems for health care and human augmentation applications. Thus, there is a ... -
Double helical conformation and extreme rigidity in a rodlike polyelectrolyte
(Nature Publishing Group, 2019-02-18)The ubiquitous biomacromolecule DNA has an axial rigidity persistence length of ~50 nm, driven by its elegant double helical structure. While double and multiple helix structures appear widely in nature, only rarely are ... -
3D printing vending machine
(United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2016-08-16)A vending machine for creating a three-dimensional object having an enclosure having an exterior and interior. The interior receives and houses at least one three-dimensional printer. An interface for accepting an instruction ... -
Capillary forces on a small particle at a liquid-vapor interface: Theory and simulation
(American Physical Society, 2018-09-24)
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