RT Journal Article
T1 Direct and green production of sterile aerogels using supercritical fluid technology for biomedical applications
A1 Carracedo Pérez, María
A1 Ardao Palacios, Inés
A1 López Iglesias, Clara
A1 Magariños Ferro, Beatriz
A1 García González, Carlos A.
K1 Supercritical CO2
K1 Sterilization
K1 Biomaterials
K1 Bioaerogels
K1 Starch
K1 Alginate
AB Aerogels based on natural polymers are of increasing interest in the biomedical field due to their biocompatibility, bioactivity, biodegradability and, in certain cases, extracellular matrix biomimicry. However, sterility has been a critical quality attribute limiting the use of aerogels in biomedicine. This work introduces a new and environmental-friendly technique based on the use of CO2 called in situ sterilization that enables the manufacturing of sterile aerogel in a one-pot process. Starch aerogel cylinders and alginate aerogel beads enclosed within sterilization pouches were produced using this approach. The study involved the redesign of the flow diagram for aerogel production and the study of the effect of key parameters in the process (additive type and content, agitation, CO2 flow regime type and duration) on the resulting material. The obtained materials were evaluated regarding their texture (helium pycnometry, N2 adsorption-desorption analysis, SEM) and their sterility against three standardized bioindicators. Finally, the sterile aerogel materials were put in contact with NIH-3T3 cells assessing their cytocompatibility. Under the optimal operating conditions with 4.5 h of processing time, the aerogels were sterile, cytocompatible and had a porosity of ca. 80 % and a specific surface area of ca. 80 m2/g and 200 m2/g, for starch and alginate aerogels, respectively. Results allowed to identify the feasible operating region as well as the optimum processing values to obtain the typical nanostructure of aerogels, whilst ensuring suitable regulatory sterilization levels for aerogel implantation and cytocompatibility of the sterile material with fibroblastic cells.
PB Elsevier
SN 2212-9820
YR 2024
FD 2024-08-09
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/39753
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/39753
LA eng
NO References  Carracedo-Pérez, M., Ardao, I., López-Iglesias, C., Magariños, B., & García-González, C. A. (2024). Direct and green production of sterile aerogels using supercritical fluid technology for biomedical applications. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 8610.1016/j.jcou.2024.102891
NO This work was funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 [grants PID2020–120010RB-I00 and PDC2022–133526-I00], Xunta de Galicia [ED431C2022/2023], Xunta de Galicia-GAIN [Ignicia Programme 2021, ECOBONE], ERDF/EU and European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR. C. L.-I. acknowledges Xunta de Galicia for a postdoctoral fellowship [ED481B-2021–008]. Work carried out in the framework of the ECO-AERoGELS COST Innovators' Grant (ref. IG18125) and funded by the European Commission.
DS Minerva
RD 22 abr 2026