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There is growing interest in the use of electrospun polymeric nanofibers in drug delivery systems due to their remarkable surface-to-volume ratio, which enhances the processes of drug loading, specific cell binding and proliferation. The preferred polymers for drug delivery must be biocompatible and biodegradable. Gum tragacanth is one of the materials of choice for drug delivery. This work aimed at cross-linking the tragacanthin, the water-soluble fraction of gum tragacanth, with glutaraldehyde, synthesis of the cross-linked nanofibers and evaluating their properties to encapsulate and deliver a drug using caffeine as a model drug in the first place. The nanofibers were then loaded with cisplatin and evaluated against HepG2 cell line. The drug-loaded nanofibers (dia. 0.841 μm) were prepared by electrospinning using glutaraldehyde as the cross-linker and glycerol as a plasticizer and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, electronic spectroscopy, 1HNMR, powder X-ray diffraction analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis. They released the encapsulated drugs in a sustained manner at pH 7.4 over 4.5 days (∼275 h with ∼80 % release) following Higuchi (cisplatin) and Hixon-Crowell (caffeine) kinetics. In a cytotoxicity assay against HepG2 cell line the cisplatin-loaded nanofibers exhibited enhanced activity compared to that with the standard cisplatin and in the caspase activity assay it activated caspase 3 to a higher extent and 8 and 9 to double the extent (4-fold) of cisplatin, suggesting a higher apoptotic activity by the nanoformulation than the standard cisplatin. Thus, nanoformulation appeared to be a potential candidate for treating hepatocellular carcinoma as an implant.

Two-dimensional (2D) metallic transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have garnered significant attention as promising candidates for various applications, including electronics, spintronics, and energy-related fields. Their appeal lies in their exceptional electronic conductivity, room-temperature ferromagnetism, charge density wave (CDW) phenomena, and catalytic properties, among other attributes. Among the diverse array of metallic TMDs, vanadium dichalcogenides (VX2, X = S, Se, and Te) stand out due to their distinctive set of physical and chemical properties. These properties have positioned VX2 materials at the forefront of both fundamental research and technological exploration in fields such as condensed matter physics, materials science, and device physics. In this comprehensive review, we present a thorough investigation of the recent advancements in 2D metallic VX2 materials and related heterostructures in the aspects of their structures, fabrication methods, key properties, and potential applications. First, the electronic and crystal structures of 2D VX2 are introduced. Second, the growth methods of VX2 and their heterostructures are discussed. Then, the novel physical properties and potential applications of 2D VX2 and its heterostructures are highlighted. Finally, we assess the current state of development in this growing field, acknowledging the obstacles ahead and the promising avenues for future research.

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a versatile method to synthesize 2D materials, but usually requires high growth temperatures. Here, the authors report a BiOCl-assisted CVD approach to grow 2D nanosheets from 27 different layered and nonlayered materials at temperatures