Sustainable Approaches for Recycling Lithium-ion Battery Materials

Abstract

In recent years, nanomaterials have gained attention as potential tools for tissue engineering, providing adaptable platforms for long-term medical treatment. In this research, we detailed the physicochemical characteristics of a range of nanoparticles—quantum dots, gold, silver, and iron oxide— that are crucial for their use in tissue engineering. While gold nanoparticles were 20 nm in size, 30 m^2/g in surface area, and had a positive zeta potential of +20 mV, silver nanoparticles were 15 nm in size, 25 m^2/g in surface area, and had a negative zeta potential of -15 mV. The size, surface area, and zeta potential of iron oxide nanoparticles were 30 nm, 40 m^2/g, and +10 mV, respectively. In contrast, the lowest size and zeta potential of quantum dots were 10 nm and +30 mV, respectively. It was also noted that mechanical strength, pore size, and porosity are important scaffold qualities that regulate cellular activity and tissue regeneration. Collagen scaffolds had a lower mechanical strength of 15 MPa, a larger porosity of 90%, and a smaller pore size of 50 µm, in contrast to poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) scaffolds that had 100 µm pores, 80% porosity, and 20 MPa mechanical strength, respectively. In comparison to chitosan scaffolds, which had the biggest pore size of 120 µm, porosity of 75%, and mechanical strength of 25 MPa, gelatin scaffolds had a moderate hole size of 75 µm, an 85% porosity, and an intermediate mechanical strength of 18 MPa. In addition, testing cell viability and proliferation on scaffolds that included nanomaterials revealed that these materials may influence cellular behavior; for example, gold nanoparticles exhibited a cell vitality of 95% and a cell proliferation that was much higher than control. Finally, the regulated and sustained release kinetics seen in drug release profiles from drug delivery systems based on nanomaterials demonstrate their promise for improving therapeutic results. In conclusion, the research highlights the importance of nanomaterials in developing long-term healthcare solutions and explains their many uses in tissue engineering.