Nanostructured electrospinning technology

Figure 17.2 Schematic illustration of common methods, such as hard-template, and soft-template methods as well as electrospinning technology, for the preparation of conducting polymer nanostructures.

Czaplewski, D., Kameoka, J., and Craighead, H. G. Nonlithographic approach to nanostructure fabrication using a scanned electrospinning source. Journal of Vacuum Science Technology B (Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures), 21, 2994-2997 (2003). 

This functionalization of the fibrous implantable device, which allows to meet specific needs in particular biological environments, needs to correlate the microstmcture and nanostructure scales of fibers to the scale of the desired cells that we desire for the adhesion. As cell adhesion occurs on the fiber length, fibers diameter should be optimized to ensure high adsorption surface ratio while being adjusted to cell dimensions that can vary from nanometers to hundreds of micrometers. Fiber process technologies are nowadays able to cover this range and provide implantable fibers with diameters from millimeters, such as suture filaments, to nanometers, by electrospinning process (Fig. 13.2). 

---