Fabrication of aligned PVA nanofibers: A new collector technique

We report a laboratory developed efficient metal rotating collector design in electrospinning that aligns majority of the polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers with or without carbon nanotube inclusions. The average diameter of PVA and PVA-CNT composite nanofibers fabricated is 200 nm. A comparison of fiber diameter distribution and alignment has been established in case of static and laboratory designed rotating disc collector. Raman analysis suggests the presence of carbon nanotubes in the electrospun web. AFM suggests the thinness of the fibrous filaments and SEM shows the structural morphology of the fibers

Fabrication and Experimental Analysis of Axially Oriented Nanofibers

A novel design of a laboratory built axially rotating collector (ARC) having capability to align electrospun nanofibers have been described. A detailed morphological comparison of such nanofibers orientation and their geometry is done using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). For comparison various polymeric solutions were electrospun on conventional static collector as well as ARC. The average diameter of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers was found to be 250 nm while polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers were found to be within a range of 600–800 nm. Conducting nanoparticles such as graphene and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) mixed with polymer solutions shown to have a significant influence on the overall geometry of these nanofibers and their diameter distribution. It is evident from the SEM analysis that both graphene and MWNTs in polymer solution play a crucial role in achieving a uniform diameter of nanofibers. Lastly, the formation of the aligned nanofibers using ARC has been mathematically modeled and the electromagnetic field governing the process has been simulated

Tailored collector design for optimization of alignment of biomimetic nanofibers

Here we demonstrate a unique design of a collector for an Electrospining setup which produces scaffold with majority of aligned nanofibers. Previous researchers have shown that the scaffold with aligned nanofibers gives maximum cell proliferation and enhances cell adherence. Also, the geometry of collector influences the alignment of fibers. We develop custom integrated Electrospining setup, build in laboratory, to make scaffold with aligned nanofibers. We use SEM to characterize the structural and morphological aspects of scaffold thus produced