Microelectrodes-Assisted Micropatterning on Nanofiber
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Microelectrodes-Assisted Micropatterning on Nanofiber Hansong Zeng1, Feng Wang2, Jianjun Guan2 and Yi Zhao1 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 1080 Carmack Rd., Columbus, OH 43210, U.S.A. 2 Department of Material Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2041 College Rd., Columbus, OH 43210, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT This paper reports a novel and cost-effective approach which enables the integration of nanostructures and micropatterns. In this work, nanofibers are selectively patterned in defined micropatterns via a collector chip. The driving momentum of the micropattern formation, namely the non-uniform electrical field, is studied by finite element method. Micropatterned nanofiber mats are successfully fabricated. The SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) characterization demonstrates that the microstructures are manifested by distinct porosities and thicknesses. This work opens a door for a broad array of applications such as nanoelectronics and tissue engineering, where the fibrous materials with the characteristic features sizes over several order of magnitudes are required. INTRODUCTION Electrospinning technique provides a sound method to fabricate entangled polymeric fibers whose diameter ranges from tens of nanometers to several microns [1]. Such materials have preferable properties such as mechanical flexibility, biocompatibility, and unique morphology [2-4]. They have recently gained rapid popularity in a broad range of biomedical and industrial applications, including high performance filtration membranes, drug delivery carriers, tissue engineering scaffolds and protective clothing [5-7]. Among these applications, particularly in tissue engineering and some MEMS (MicroElectro-Mechanical Systems)-related field, multi-scale structures combining nanofibers and microstructures are more desirable than nanostructures alone, because they provide a vehicle to interface submicron world to its larger scale counterparts, such as cells and tissues. For instance, micropatterned carbon nanofibers can modulate the adhesion of osteoblasts and the deposition of calcium phosphate [8]. Microfabricated poly-caprolactone (PCL) scaffolds with nanopores can be used as the engineered counterparts of natural blood vessels by aligning vascular smooth muscle cells and enhancing nutrient diffusion [9]. However, despite the usefulness only limited technologies have been reported for fabricating such combined micro/nanostructures in electrospun nanofibers [10]. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel fabrication approach to integrate microscale patterns and nanostructures into a single nanofiber mat. Different from the conventional electrospinning method, a collector chip, which contains an array of planar microelectrodes on the surface of a dielectric substrate, is utilized to collect the charged nanofibers. By controlling the DC voltage applied to the electrodes, nanofiber mats with desirable micro-patterns, manifested by regularly changed thicknesses and porosities, are successfully fabri
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