Search results for " electrospinning"

Core-shell Zn-doped TiO2-ZnO nanofibers fabricated via a combination of electrospinning and metal-organic chemical vapour deposition

2010

Zn-doped TiO2 nanofibers shelled with ZnO hierarchical nanoarchitectures have been fabricated combining electrospinning of TiO2 (anatase) nanofibers and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) of ZnO. The proposed hybrid approach has proven suitable for tailoring both the morphology of the ZnO external shell as well as the crystal structure of the Zn-doped TiO2 core. It has been found that the Zn dopant is incorporated in calcined electrospun nanofibers without any evidence of ZnO aggregates. Effects of different Zn doping levels of Zn-doped TiO2 fibers have been scrutinized and morphological, structural, physico-chemical and optical properties evaluated before and after the hierarc…

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BIOPOLYMERIC POROUS STRUCTURES FOR ADVANCED APPLICATIONS

Porous biopolymers received an increasing academic and industrial interest finding application in several fields such as tissue engineering, bioprocess intensification and waste removal. Tissue engineering combines the knowledge of materials science and bioengineering in order to develop structures able to substitute and restore the normal function of injured or diseased tissues. In this context, polymeric 3D or 2D scaffolds are widely investigated as temporary cell guidance during the tissue restore. Porous biomaterials can offer a versatile and cost effective way for immobilization of filamentous microorganisms in submerged fermentation processes for the production of biologically active …

Preparation, characterization and hydrolytic degradation of PLA/PCL co-mingled nanofibrous mats prepared via dual-jet electrospinning

2017

Abstract PLA/PCL co-mingled nanofibrous mats were prepared via multi-jet electrospinning. The concentration of PLA and PCL in the co-mingled mats were controlled by changing the flow rate of the two polymer solutions. The amount of PLA and PCL in the co-mingled nanofibrous mats was monitored by UV–Vis measurements through a colored dye added to PLA and by FTIR-ATR analysis. Morphology and mechanical properties of the nanofibrous mats were respectively examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and tensile tests. Water contact angles measurements were also carried out in order to investigate the wettability of the materials. Finally, the hydrolytic degradation of the mats in buffer solut…

ELECTROSPUN NANOFIBROUS MATS IN FIBRE REINFORCED EPOXY LAMINATES

A novel approach to fully characterize fiber network morphology of planar fibrous tissues and scaffolds

2010

Understanding how scaffold structure influences cell morphology, metabolism, phenotypic expression, and predicting mechanical behaviors have increasingly become crucial goals in the development of engineered tissue scaffolds. A novel image-based analysis algorithm that provides an automatic tool to characterize engineered tissue fiber network topology is presented. Micro architectural descriptors that unambiguously define the fiber network topology were detected, which include fiber orientation distribution, connectivity, intersection spatial density, and diameter. Algorithm performance was tested using actual sample scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of (1) electrospun poly(ester ur…

Properties-morphology relationships in electrospun mats based on polylactic acid and graphene nanoplatelets

2018

Abstract Aligned and randomly oriented polylactic acid (PLA) biocomposite nanofiber mats filled with Graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) were prepared by electrospinning. The morphological analysis revealed the successful alignment of the fibers achieved by collecting the mats on a high-speed rotary drum. Furthermore, GnP addition on the polymeric solution leads to an increase of the viscosity with a consequent increment of the fiber diameter. Tensile tests demonstrated that the reinforcing effect of GnP when added to the PLA matrix was more than three times higher in the aligned systems if compared with the respective randomly oriented mats. DSC analysis showed that GnPs were able to slightly inc…

Rapid One-Step Fabrication of Graphene Oxide-Decorated Polycaprolactone Three-Dimensional Templates for Water Treatment

2020

Coating of flexible substrates is crucial to prepare versatile, multifunctional materials. However, exploration of effective fabrication approaches is still a challenging issue, because the pathways generally proposed require time-consuming, multistep protocols. Here, we developed a one-pot process for decorating either pearl necklace-like or fibrous fluffy-like structures of polycaprolactone (PCL) with graphene oxide (GO) skin. PCL solutions were dry jet-wet electrosprayed or electrospun into a stirred liquid collector constituted by ethanol-containing GO nanoparticles. The stirred liquid collector enables the formation of 3D-structures, whose microarchitecture can be designed by controlli…

Processing-structure-property relationships of electrospun PLA-PEO membranes reinforced with enzymatic cellulose nanofibers

2020

Abstract Three different solvent mixtures were used to prepare electrospun membranes based on polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene oxide (PEO) and enzymatic cellulose nanofibers (CNF). The materials were characterized from a morphological, spectroscopic, mechanical and rheological point of view. Furthermore, swelling test were performed in order to assess the water uptake of each sample. The results put into evidence that the choice of the solvents affects the structure and the properties of the membranes. Among the protocols tested, using chloroform/acetone/ethanol mixture was found to allow a high degree of CNF dispersion and a good electrospinnability of polymer solutions. These features …

PLA-based functionally graded laminates for tunable controlled release of carvacrol obtained by combining electrospinning with solvent casting

2020

Abstract A novel approach was designed to fabricate high-added value manufacts, starting from cost-effective materials and combining well-known processing techniques. Bi- and three-layered, functionally graded laminates were achieved by direct electrospinning onto dense substrates. The architecture of each multilayer comprises a dense layer formed by solvent casting, which is constituted by polylactic acid (PLA) and carvacrol, and one or two electrospun fibrous skin layers, consisting of PLA only. Processing-structure-properties relationships of such materials were investigated. As regards mechanical behavior, the amount of fibrous PLA layers determined an increase of stiffness from 20 to 3…

Morphology and structure of electrospun CoFe2O4/multi-wall carbon nanotubes composite nanofibers

2010

CoFe2O4/multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) composite nanofibers were produced by electrospinning a dispersion of MWCNTs in a solution of polyvinylpyrrolidone, iron(III) nitrate nonahydrate, cobalt (II) acetate tetrahydrate, absolute ethanol and H2O. Microstructure was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Thermal behaviour was studied by thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and phase analysis of calcined fibers was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Upon thermal treatment at 450 °C defect-free, randomly oriented composite fibers having a mean diameter of 60 ± 10 nm were obtained. The results s…