Back to Blog
Pattern honeycomb5/27/2023 Polyacrylonitrile, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene oxide, polyurethane and polycaprolactone (PCL) were reported to be successfully electrospun into honeycomb structures via a self-assembly-driven phenomenon. Actually, at a sufficiently low concentration, wet and still charged nanofibers can be deposited on the collector and can subsequently self-assemble into honeycomb structures via competitive actions between: 1) the surface tension that drives the fibers to merge together at a cross point and 2) the electrostatic repulsion that, in contrast, pushes adjacent sections away to form polygonal channels with three-branched walls. Interestingly, some research groups have introduced the possibility of electrospinning honeycomb-patterned nanofibers in a simple and rapid way by carefully varying some process parameters such as the polymer solution concentration and applied voltage without even the use of a sophisticated patterned collector. ![]() In fact, the geometry of the honeycombs also mimics the natural microvascular network and the spongy structure of the bone tissue. Such structures were as such shown to synergistically promote the uniform infiltration of cells and their adhesion, proliferation and differentiation thus creating a stimulating microenvironment for the regeneration of different tissues such as blood vessel and bones. In particular, honeycomb-patterned nanofibrous structures are potentially very promising as tissue engineering scaffolds as they exhibit, in addition to the large surface area, a high structural stability and an architecture integrating interconnected microporous voids with nanofibers. The massive research advances in electrospinning have even led to the generation of fascinating bioinspired-patterned fibrous structures such as the lotus leaf, feather, silver ragwort leaf, spider web, plant tendril, bear hair and honeycomb. Moreover, electrospun fibers are very promising candidates in tissue engineering applications given their biomimicry of the natural extracellular matrix. optical devices, catalyst supports, batteries, textiles and sensors. ![]() The large surface area to volume ratio and high porosity of electrospun structures have rendered the technology appealing in numerous applications e.g. This technique has actually shown several attractive strengths such as its versatility, affordability, simplicity and ability to adjust the diameter of the electrospun fibers from hundreds of micrometers down to tens of nanometers. The end of the 20 th century has marked an enormous surge of interest in electrospinning after discovering its capacity of generating fibers from various polymers.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |