Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
diameters.ranging.from.several.microns.down.to.less.than.100.nm.(Frenot.and.Chronakis.
2003)..Therefore,.the.fabrication.of.nanoibrous.mats,.or.scaffolds,.can.be.realized..Compared.
with.other.approaches.to.nanoiber.synthesis.(e.g.,.peptide.self-assembly,.phase.separation,.
template-based. fabrication),. electrospinning. is. a. simple. but. versatile. method. that. is. easy.
to.set.up,.low.in.cost,.and.has.a.vast.selection.of.materials.and.applications.(Beachley.and.
Wen.2010)..One.major.advantage.of.electrospinning.nanoibers.is.that.the.surface.area.per.
unit. mass. and. surface. area. to. volume. ratio. is. large,. and. small. porosity. can. be. achieved..
This.is.integral.to.applications.such.as.multifunctional.membranes,.iltration.for.submicron.
particles,.structures.for.nanoelectric.machines,.and.nanoibrous.matrices.for.biological.and.
biomedical.applications.
Electrospinning. can. be. traced. back. to. more. than. a. century. ago. when. the. apparatus.
and. method. for. electrically. dispersing. luids. were. patented. by. Cooley. and. Morton. in.
1902,.respectively.(Cooley.1902,.Morton.1902)..Further.developments.have.been.made.by.
Formhals.who.patented.the.process.for.the.production.of.electrostatically.spun.artiicial.
ibers.in.1934.(Formhals.1934),.followed.by.Norton.who.invented.the.formation.of.ibers.
from.polymer.melts.using.an.air-blast.mechanism.(Norton.1936)..Huang.et.al..have.detailed.
the.history.of.the.development.of.electrospinning.technology.(Huang.et.al..2003)..Before.
the.1990s,.the.electrospinning.process.had.been.limited.to.the.textile.and.ilter.industry..
It.was.Reneker.who.established.the.realm.of.“modern”.electrospinning.and.signiicantly.
promoted.the.rapid.development.of.electrospinning.(Doshi.and.Reneker.1995,.Reneker.and.
Chun.1996)..In.2002,.Li.and.colleagues.introduced.electrospun.nanoibers.into.the.tissue-
engineering.ield.(Li.et.al..2002)..With.the.advancement.in.nanotechnology,.electrospinning.
has.received.much.attention,.which.can.be.attributed.to.an.increase.in.publications.on.the.
topic. over. the. past. 20. years. (from. almost. 10. in. 1998. to. over. 2000. in. 2010). (Li. et. al.. 2006,.
CAS.Indexing.2011)..This.growing.popularity.is.due.to.the.ability.to.manipulate.polymer.
solutions.and.to.create.3D.structures.(Doshi.and.Reneker.1995,.Reneker.and.Chun.1996,.
Deitzel.et.al..2001,.Bhattarai.et.al..2004,.Li.et.al..2005,.Ji.et.al..2006)..Furthermore,.the.possible.
secondary. structures. and. functionalities. that. can. be. introduced. while. electrospinning.
have.shown.great.promise.(Li.and.Xia.2004,.Zhang.and.Chang.2008).
As.previously.mentioned,.electrospinning.can.be.applied.across.several.disciplines..In.
this. chapter,. we. will. focus. on. the. applications. for. nanobiotechnology.. Electrospinning.
is. advantageous. in. this. ield. speciically. for. tissue. engineering,. drug. delivery,. and.
enzyme. engineering. purposes.. The. chapter. will. be. arranged. as. follows:. Section. 14.2.
electrospinning. process,. which. includes. the. mechanism. and. setup. of. electrospinning,.
parameters. involved,. polymers. and. solvents. involved,. melt. electrospinning,. core-shell.
electrospinning. and. iber. alignment;. Section. 14.3. characterization. of. nanoibers,. which.
summarizes. methods. to. analyze. electrospun. nanoibers. microscopically. and. measure.
their. porosity,. mechanical. properties,. and. thermal. properties;. Section. 14.4. biological.
applications,.which.presents.the.application.of.electrospinning.in.tissue.engineering,.drug.
delivery,.and.enzyme.engineering;.and.Section.14.5.conclusions.and.perspectives.
14.2 Electrospinning Process
14.2.1 Mechanism and Setup of electrospinning
The.apparatus.used.during.electrospinning.is.simple.in.both.setup.and.procedure..The.
three. major. constituents. include:. a. metallic. nozzle. or. needle. tip,. a. high. voltage. power.
