Hydrophilic amorphous matrices

Effect of fiber treatments The rate of water uptake by OPF-PF composites upon different fiber treatments was in the order extracted (highest) > non-extracted > propionylated > acetylated (lowest) [73]. The variation between the lowest and highest was 30%. It is also observed that most of the fiber treatments increased water absorption of the composites except alkali treatment, however the treatments reduced water absop-tion of the fibers [45]. Alkali treatment removes the amorphous waxy cuticle layer of the fiber and activates hydroxyl groups leading to chemical interaction between the fiber and matrix. In case of PF, the trend was different as it is hydrophilic whereas most polymers used for composite fabrication is hydrophobic. Therefore the more hydro-phobic the fiber in OPF-PF composites, less the extent of fiber-matrix interaction, which facilitate sorption process [23]. For example, latex coating make the fibers most hydrophobic and the OPF-PF composites prepared from latex coated fibers exhibit maximum water absorption. 

The anionic exchange concept has been employed on PVA polymer electrolyte to improve the ionic conductivity of alkaline PVA-based SPE. The solvent casting method started by blending PVA and quaternary amine, such as tetraethyl ammonium chloride (TEAC) in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to form PVA/TEAC blend polymer membrane [38]. After immersed in 32 wt.% KOH solution, the alkaline PVA/TEAC SPE membranes were obtained. When more TEAC was added, the crystalline intensity of PVA fiem XRD peak was greatly reduced. It was suggested that the addition of TEAC into the PVA polymer matrix increased the domain of amorphous region and then the hydrophilicity. The XRD spectra are evidenced in Fig. 5. 

The absorption of KOH electrolyte by the SPE membrane is very crucial, because the higher KOH electrolyte content is beneficial for higher ionic conductivity. It would be necessary to have higher concentration of hydroxyl ions (OH ) in polymer matrix. After PVA was blended with PAA, the typical (101) crystalline peak of PVA at 26=19° was significantly reduced [50,51]. The XRD spectra for the PVA/PAA membranes were shown in Fig. 6. This is very helpful to enhance the ionic transport property since there is more amorphous domain available for ion transport. It also improves the absorbility of KOH solution in PVA/PAA membrane due to the higher hydrophilicity property of PAA. 

To date, there are numerous commercial products in the market such as Certican , Nivadil , Crestor , Prograf , and Sporanox in which HPMC is used as a carrier for the solid dispersions. Sporanox utilized spray-dried layering of the HPMC and the drug onto non-pareil beads. The amorphous API was shown to be stabilized by the hydrophilic matrix. 

Hair is complex multicomponent fibre with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties. It consists of 65-95% by weight of protein and up to 32% water, lipids, pigments and trace elements. The proteins are made of structured hard a-keratin embedded in an amorphous, proteinaceous matrix. Human hair is a modified epidermal structure, originating from small sacs called follicles that are located at the... 

NTS/FOETS) mixed monolayer showed phase-separated structure like sea-island, whose domain and matrix phases were composed of crystalline NTS and amorphous FOETS molecules, respectively. The (NTSQQQ /FOETS) mixed monolayer with the hydrophilic domain and the hydrophobic matrix was obtained by selective oxidization of the NTS phase in the (NTS/FOETS) mixed monolayer. Furthermore, the local height control on the NTScqoh phase of the (NTS ooh/P S) mixed monolayer was performed by chemisorption of NTS from the solution. The height increase in the NTScqoh phase was confirmed by AFM and lateral force microscopy (LFM). 

---