integration-light-trapping-silver-nanostructures-hydrogenated

Integration of Light Trapping Silver Nanostructures in Hydrogenated Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells by Transfer Printing

One of the potential applications of metal nanostructures is light trapping in solar cells, where unique optical properties of nanosized metals, commonly ...

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

The aim of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the characteristics of rapidly disintegrating tablets containing an amorphous ingredient prepared by crystalline transition method (CTM) under various storage conditions. Effect of storage conditions and formulating ratio of amorphous sucrose on the characteristic changes (tensile strength, porosity, and disintegration time) of the rapidly disintegrating tablets was studied. The storage conditions of different temperature and humidity affected the rate of crystalline transition and the increase in the tablet tensile strength. The faster crystalline transition resulted in a faster rate of increase in the tablet tensile strength. Regarding the effect of the formulating ratio of amorphous sucrose, in the case of 20-100%, the tensile strength after storage as a function of the porosity could be plotted on the same curve. For tablets containing 100% amorphous sucrose, the tablets with different porosity changed to almost the same structure due to the crystalline transition. Hence, the higher formulating ratio of amorphous sucrose provided the longer disintegration time in the mouth. Therefore, we concluded that the formulating ratio of 10-20% of the amorphous sucrose in the tablet is suitable for the rapidly disintegrating tablet in the mouth when prepared by CTM.

Factors affecting the characteristics of rapidly disintegrating tablets in the mouth prepared by the crystalline transition of amorphous sucrose.

The aim of this article was to determine the optimal ingredients for the rapidly disintegrating oral tablets prepared by the crystalline transition method (CT method). The effect of ingredients (diluent, active drug substance and amorphous sugar) on the characteristics of the tablets was investigated. The ingredients were compressed and the resultant tablets were stored under various conditions. The oral disintegration time of the tablet significantly depended on diluents, due to differences in the penetration of a small amount of water in the mouth and the viscous area formed inside the tablet. The oral disintegration time was 10-30 s for tablets with a tensile strength of approximately 1 MPa, when erythritol, mannitol or xylitol was used as the diluent. The increase in the tensile strength of tablets containing highly water-soluble active drug substances during storage was as large as that of tablets without active drug substances, while the increase in the tensile strength of tablets containing low water-soluble active drug substances was small. It was therefore found that highly water-soluble active drug substances were more suitable for the formulation prepared by the CT method than low water-soluble active drug substances. Irrespective of the type of amorphous sugar (amorphous sucrose, lactose or maltose) used, the porosity of tablets with 1 MPa of tensile strength was 30-40%, and their oral disintegration time was 10-20 s. The optimal ingredients for rapidly disintegrating oral tablets with reasonable tensile strength and disintegration time were therefore determined from these results.

Effect of formulated ingredients on rapidly disintegrating oral tablets prepared by the crystalline transition method.

The industrial manufacturing of rapidly disintegrating oral tablets with a sufficient tensile strength was investigated. The manufacturing method of the tablets involved the crystalline transition of amorphous sucrose that was produced in the process of fluidized bed granulation of mannitol using sucrose solution as a binder. The aim of this article was to clarify the usefulness of amorphous sucrose formed during the granulation for the rapidly disintegrating oral tablets manufacturing, and to investigate the effects of crystalline transition of the amorphous sucrose in granules on the characteristics of the resultant tablets prepared by this crystalline transition (CT) method. The X-ray diffraction measurement and thermal analysis showed that amorphous sucrose was effectively formed in granules consisting of 95% mannitol and 5% sucrose when the granulation was performed on the condition of water content of 4%. The tensile strength of tablets comprised of the granules, which were compressed before the crystallization of amorphous sucrose, increased remarkably after storage, because new internal solid bridges were formed in the tablets as a result of the crystallization. We conclude that rapidly disintegrating oral tablets can effectively be manufactured by the CT method using the granules obtained by the fluidized bed granulation method.

Development of manufacturing method for rapidly disintegrating oral tablets using the crystalline transition of amorphous sucrose.

A method to fabricate metal nanostructures by transfer printing, applicable to textured surfaces, is described. The key is the use of self-assembled polystyrene-block-poly-2-vinylpyridine thin films as binding layers. The plasmonic properties of the obtained metal (Ag) nanostructures showed the potential of this method in the design of novel devices.

Koji Matsubara

Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Integration of Light Trapping Silver Nanostructures in Hydrogenated Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells by Transfer Printing