Electrospun Nanofibers for Drug Delivery Applications

Nanofiber systems with various composition and biological properties have been extensively studied for various biomedical applications. The electrospinning process has been regarded as one of the versatile techniques to prepare nano to microfibers. The electrospun nanofibers are being used especially in textile industries, sensors, filters, protective clothing, energy storage materials, and biomedical applications. In the last decade, electrospun nanofibers have been highly investigated for drug delivery systems to achieve a therapeutic effect in specifically targeted sites. Various drugs or biomolecules can be easily loaded into the electrospun nanofibers by direct or indirect methods. The proper selection of polymers (or blends of various polymers), drugs, solvents to prepare the composite nanofibers with desired morphology are the tools in enhancing the bioavailability, stability, and bioactivity of drugs.

Multiscale-Engineered Muscle Constructs: PEG Hydrogel Micro-Patterning on an Electrospun PCL Mat Functionalized with Gold Nanoparticles

The development of new, viable, and functional engineered tissue is a complex and challenging task. Skeletal muscle constructs have specific requirements as cells are sensitive to the stiffness, geometry of the materials, and biological micro-environment. The aim of this study was thus to design and characterize a multi-scale scaffold and to evaluate it regarding the differentiation process of C2C12 skeletal myoblasts. The significance of the work lies in the microfabrication of lines of polyethylene glycol, on poly(-caprolactone) nanofiber sheets obtained using the electrospinning process, coated or not with gold nanoparticles to act as a potential substrate for electrical stimulation. The differentiation of C2C12 cells was studied over a period of seven days and quantified through both expression of specific genes, and analysis of the myotubes’ alignment and length using confocal microscopy. We demonstrated that our multiscale bio-construct presented tunable mechanical properties and supported the different stages skeletal muscle,as well as improving the parallel orientation of the myotubes with a variation of less than 15°. These scaffolds showed the ability of sustained myogenic differentiation by enhancing the organization of reconstructed skeletal muscle. Moreover, they may be suitable for applications in mechanical and electrical stimulation to mimic the muscle’s physiological functions.

Reuse of Textile Waste to Production of the Fibrous Antibacterial Membrane with Filtration Potential

Wasted synthetic fabrics are a type of textile waste source; the reuse of them brings environmental protection and turns waste into a valuable material. In this work, the used nylon (polyamide) stockings were transmuted into a fine fibrous membrane via an electrospinning process. In addition, the safety antibacterial agent, monoacylglycerol (MAG), was incorporated into a recycled fibrous membrane. The results revealed that the neat, recycled polyamide (rPA) fibers with a hydrophobic surface could be converted into hydrophilic fibers by blending various amounts of MAG with rPA solution prior to electrospinning. The filtration efficiency and air/water vapor permeability of the two types of produced membranes, neat rPA, and rPA/MAG, were tested. Their filtration efficiency (E100) was more than 92% and 96%, respectively. The membranes were classified according to Standard EN1822, and therefore, the membranes rPA and rPA/MAG were assigned to the classes E10 and E11, respectively. The air permeability was not affected by the addition of MAG, and water vapor permeability was slightly enhanced. Based on the obtained data, prepared rPA/MAG fibrous membranes can be evaluated as antifouling against both tested bacterial strains and antimicrobial against S. aureus.

Fabrication of PANI-modified PVDF nanofibrous yarn for pH sensor

In recent years, with the rise of an intelligent concept, oral and maxillofacial surgery smart dressing had also attracted the interest of researchers, especially for the pH sensor with flexible medium. In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibrous yarn was fabricated by a conjugate electrospinning process and modified with in situ polymerization of polyaniline (PANI) forming a PANI/PVDF yarn. By a weaving process, these yarns could be weaved into a fabric. It was found that both the PANI/PVDF yarn and the fabric showed a sensitivity to pH, about −48.53 mV per pH for yarn and −38.4 mVper pH for fabric, respectively, in the pH range of 4.0–8.0. These results indicated that the prepared PANI-modified PVDF yarn and fabric might have a potential application in intelligent oral and maxillofacial surgery dressings for monitoring wound healing.

Effect of magnetic lens on the electrospinning whipping instability, fiber diameter and its distribution

Electrospinning is an efficient and straightforward method for producing thin fibers from various materials. Although such thin fibers have diverse potential applications, the remaining problems with electrospinning are the whipping instability (also known as bending instability) of electrically charged liquid jets of polymer nanofibers and uneven fiber diameter distribution. In this study, we report a novel magnetic lens electrospinning system and discuss the principle of reducing the fiber diameter and width of the whipping circle in this electrospinning process. The effects of three types of electrospinning devices, needle-to-plate, needle-exciting coil-to-plate, and needle-magnetic lens-to-plate types, were studied through numerical simulation to analyze the electrospinning fiber collection state. For the 12 wt% polyacrylonitrile solution, when the applied voltage was 14–20 kV, the feed rate was 0.4–0.7 ml/h, and the current applied to the excitation coil or magnetic lens was 1 A, the experimental results demonstrated that, compared with needle-to-plate-type and needle-exciting coil-to-plate-type electrospinning, needle-magnetic lens-to-plate-type electrospinning produced smaller whipping circles with thinner and more uniform fibers.

Interfacing MXene Flakes on a Magnetic Fiber Network as a Stretchable, Flexible, Electromagnetic Shielding Fabric

A unique self-standing membrane composed of hierarchical thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers is prepared by the electrospinning technique, followed by a simple dip-coating process. Fe3O4 nanoparticles are uniformly anchored on TPU/PAN fibers during the electrospinning process, enabling the membrane to achieve effective electromagnetic interference shielding (EMI SE) performance. Such a hybrid membrane has a high magnetization of 18.9 emu/g. When MXene (Ti3C2Tx) layers are further loaded on the TPU/PAN/Fe3O4NPs hybrid membrane, its EMI SE performance in the X band can exceed 30 dB due to the hydrogen bonds generated between the macromolecular chain of PAN and the functional group (Tx) on the surface of MXene. Simultaneously, the interfacial attraction between MXene and the TPU/PAN/Fe3O4NPs substrate is enhanced. The EMI SE mechanism of the hybrid membrane indicates that this film has great potential in the fields of wearable devices and flexible materials.

Effect of Solution Miscibility on the Morphology of Coaxial Electrospun Cellulose Acetate Nanofibers

Coaxial electrospinning (co-electrospinning) technique has greatly expanded the universality of fabricating core-shell polymer nanofibers. However, the effect of solution miscibility on the morphology of co-electrospun products remains unclear. Herein, different cellulose acetate (CA) solutions with high solution miscibility but distinctly different electrospinnability were used to survey the effect of solution miscibility on the co-electrospinning process. The structural characterizations show that co-electrospun products are composed of nanofibers with and without the core-shell structure. This indicates that partial solution mixing occurred during the co-electrospinning process instead of absolute no-mixing or complete mixing. Importantly, the solution miscibility also shows a significant influence on the product morphology. In particular, the transformation from nanofibers to microparticles was realized with the increase of core-to-shell flow ratio during the co-electrospinning of core electrosprayable CA/dimethylacetamide (DMAc) solution and shell electrospinnable CA/acetone-DMAc (2/1, v/v) solution. Results show that the solution miscibility exerts a significant effect on not only the formation of core-shell structure but also the product morphology. This work provides a new insight for the in-depth understanding of the co-electrospinning process.