Sol-gel process for vegetal-cells encapsulation

Hanh Nguyen-Ngoc (1) , Canh Tran-Minh (2, 3)

1 HCMUT - Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology [Vietnam National University, HCM]
2 SPIN-ENSMSE - Centre Sciences des Processus Industriels et Naturels
3 P2MC-ENSMSE - Département Poudres et Matériaux Multi-Composants

A sol-gel process was carried out at room temperature to obtain porous silica matrixes for entrapment of vegetal cells. The process uses sodium silicate as a precursor rather than alkoxides to avoid generation of by-products that is detrimental to Chlorella vulgaris cells. The influence of several factors influencing the gelification was explored to optimize the encapsulation process. The technique produces a transparent matrix and is then very suitable for vegetal cells entrapment since they require light for their photosynthetic activity. Activity of the algal cells was determined by measurement of the intensity of fluorescence emission at 682 nm. This measurement also allowed to evaluate the efficiency of the immobilization technique and assess the long term activity of the encapsulated whole-cells.

Mots clés: Sol–gel; Silica; Cell entrapment; Vegetal cells; Chlorella vulgaris; Fluorescence detection

Domaines: Génie des procédés

Hanh Nguyen-Ngoc, Canh Tran-Minh. Sol-gel process for vegetal-cells encapsulation. Materials Science and Engineering: C, 2007, 27 (4), pp.607-611. ⟨10.1016/j.msec.2006.04.010⟩. ⟨hal-00518952⟩