A novel hybrid system for the fabrication of a fibrous mesh with micro-inclusions

Bilal Ahmad,Oguzhan Gunduz,Simeon Stoyanov,Eddie Pelan,Eleanor Stride,Mohan Edirisinghe

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2012.02.074

Abstract

A novel hybrid system combining microfluidic and co-axial electrospinning techniques has been used to generate different types of fibre structures with varied desirable inclusions using food grade polymers, ethyl cellulose and sodium alginate. The processing conditions in the microfluidic T-junction device, i.e. gas pressure and liquid flow rate were adjusted in order to generate near-monodisperse microbubbles which subsequently serve as a platform for particle generation. These particles exhibit micro-scale diameters and different shapes and some bubbles were incorporated into the fibrous mesh prepared by concurrent electrospinning. The fibre/particle structures obtained with different polymers via this novel method could potentially have many applications in various engineering and biological sectors.

Highlights

Control over structural parameters such as aspect ratio, in the case of fibre formation, and monodispersity, in the case of microbubbles, cannot be achieved via conventional methods such as drawing and sonication, respectively (Ramakrishna, Fujihara, Teo, Lim, & Ma, 2005; Unger et al, 2004)
We have studied alginate and ethyl cellulose as a food grade polymer model to demonstrate the capability of this novel system of “microfluidic-co-axial electrospinning” to generate structures with the intention to use this technique with other biocompatible polymers
We have developed a novel hybrid system to combine microfluidic and electrospinning techniques to generate near-monodisperse microbubbles/particles to be used as inclusions in fibres of various morphologies

Summary

Introduction

Control over structural parameters such as aspect ratio, in the case of fibre formation, and monodispersity, in the case of microbubbles, cannot be achieved via conventional methods such as drawing and sonication, respectively (Ramakrishna, Fujihara, Teo, Lim, & Ma, 2005; Unger et al, 2004). Electrospun fibres with inclusions can improve their functionality, their application has been limited so far due to molecule size and because molecules have to be added to the electrospinning solution prior to fibre formation (Hunley & Long, 2008) This facet of electrospinning could be extended further if bubbles or particles could be incorporated into the electrospun fibres via an in situ process. One such process is microfluidics, which has shown to generate generate homogeneous particles and monodisperse bubbles (Gunduz, Ahmad, Stride, Tamerler, & Edirisinghe, 2012; Whitesides, 2006) By combining both techniques it would be possible to include bubbles and particles into electrospun fibres. In this work we have combined electrospinning and microfluidic techniques to produce fibres containing microbubbles/particles using food grade polymers; namely: ethyl cellulose and alginate

Methods

Results

Conclusion