Abstract
Electrospinning is a popular method for creating random, non-woven fibrous templates for biomedical applications, and a subtype technique termed near-field electrospinning (NFES) was devised by reducing the air gap distance to millimeters. This decreased working distance paired with precise translational motion between the fiber source and collector allows for the direct writing of fibers. We demonstrate a near-field electrospinning device designed from a MakerFarm Prusa i3v three-dimensional (3D) printer to write polydioxanone (PDO) microfibers. PDO fiber diameters were characterized over the processing parameters: Air gap, polymer concentration, translational velocity, needle gauge, and applied voltage. Fiber crystallinity and individual fiber uniformity were evaluated for the polymer concentration and translational fiber deposition velocity. Fiber stacking was evaluated for the creation of 3D templates to guide the alignment of human gingival fibroblasts. The fiber diameters correlated positively with polymer concentration, applied voltage, and needle gauge; and inversely correlated with translational velocity and air gap distance. Individual fiber diameter variability decreases, and crystallinity increases with increasing translational fiber deposition velocity. These data resulted in the creation of tailored PDO 3D templates, which guided the alignment of primary human fibroblast cells. Together, these results suggest that NFES of PDO can be scaled to create precise geometries with tailored fiber diameters for biomedical applications.
Highlights
The modern exploration of electrospinning was credited to the Reneker group in the 1990s. [1,2].This group formally investigated the process, processing conditions, fiber morphology, and suggested possible applications of electrospinning
The near-field electrospinning (NFES) setup demonstrated the creation of orderly PDO fibers for fiber diameter characterization over a range of processing parameters (Figure 3a)
The processing parameter of air gap distance showed that the fiber diameter decreased from 12.4 ± 5.6 to 6.8 ± 0.9 μm over a range of 1.2 mm (Figure 3b)
Summary
The modern exploration of electrospinning was credited to the Reneker group in the 1990s. [1,2].This group formally investigated the process, processing conditions, fiber morphology, and suggested possible applications of electrospinning. The modern exploration of electrospinning was credited to the Reneker group in the 1990s. [1,2] This group formally investigated the process, processing conditions, fiber morphology, and suggested possible applications of electrospinning. Traditional solution electrospinning (TES) principally consist of a charged polymer solution and a counter electrode. The resulting electrostatic field exerts a force on the solution to form a Taylor cone [3,4]. If the force exceeds the surface tension of the solution, a liquid jet is extruded and accelerated towards the counter electrode. As the solvent evaporates in the air gap, a fiber is formed, while simultaneously incurring Rayleigh, axisymmetric, and bending instabilities [5]
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