Fabrication and characterization of electrospun semiconductor nanoparticle-polyelectrolyte ultra-fine fiber composites for sensing applications.

Fluorescent composite fibrous assembles of nanoparticle-polyelectrolyte fibers are useful multifunctional materials, utilized in filtration, sensing and tissue engineering applications, with the added benefits of improved mechanical, electrical or structural characteristics over the individual components. Composite fibrous mats were prepared by electrospinning aqueous solutions of 6 wt% poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) loaded with 0.15 and 0.20% v/v, carboxyl functionalized CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles (SNPs). The resulting fluorescent composite fibrous mats exhibits recoverable quenching when exposed to high humidity. The sensor response is sensitive to water concentration and is attributed to the change in the local charges around the SNPs due to deprotonation of the carboxylic acids on the SNPs and the surrounding polymer matrix.

Light Emission Intensities of Luminescent Y2O3:Eu and Gd2O3:Eu Particles of Various Sizes.

There is great technological interest in elucidating the effect of particle size on the luminescence efficiency of doped rare earth oxides. This study demonstrates unambiguously that there is a size effect and that it is not dependent on the calcination temperature. The Y2O3:Eu and Gd2O3:Eu particles used in this study were synthesized using wet chemistry to produce particles ranging in size between 7 nm and 326 nm and a commercially available phosphor. These particles were characterized using three excitation methods: UV light at 250 nm wavelength, electron beam at 10 kV, and X-rays generated at 100 kV. Regardless of the excitation source, it was found that with increasing particle diameter there is an increase in emitted light. Furthermore, dense particles emit more light than porous particles. These results can be explained by considering the larger surface area to volume ratio of the smallest particles and increased internal surface area of the pores found in the large particles. For the small particles, the additional surface area hosts adsorbates that lead to non-radiative recombination, and in the porous particles, the pore walls can quench fluorescence. This trend is valid across calcination temperatures and is evident when comparing particles from the same calcination temperature.

Three-dimensional hierarchical cultivation of human skin cells on bio-adaptive hybrid fibers.

The human skin comprises a complex multi-scale layered structure with hierarchical organization of different cells within the extracellular matrix (ECM). This supportive fiber-reinforced structure provides a dynamically changing microenvironment with specific topographical, mechanical and biochemical cell recognition sites to facilitate cell attachment and proliferation. Current advances in developing artificial matrices for cultivation of human cells concentrate on surface functionalizing of biocompatible materials with different biomolecules like growth factors to enhance cell attachment. However, an often neglected aspect for efficient modulation of cell-matrix interactions is posed by the mechanical characteristics of such artificial matrices. To address this issue, we fabricated biocompatible hybrid fibers simulating the complex biomechanical characteristics of native ECM in human skin. Subsequently, we analyzed interactions of such fibers with human skin cells focusing on the identification of key fiber characteristics for optimized cell-matrix interactions. We successfully identified the mediating effect of bio-adaptive elasto-plastic stiffness paired with hydrophilic surface properties as key factors for cell attachment and proliferation, thus elucidating the synergistic role of these parameters to induce cellular responses. Co-cultivation of fibroblasts and keratinocytes on such fiber mats representing the specific cells in dermis and epidermis resulted in a hierarchical organization of dermal and epidermal tissue layers. In addition, terminal differentiation of keratinocytes at the air interface was observed. These findings provide valuable new insights into cell behaviour in three-dimensional structures and cell-material interactions which can be used for rational development of bio-inspired functional materials for advanced biomedical applications.

Various-sourced pectin and polyethylene oxide electrospun fibers.

Pectin, a naturally occurring and biorenewable polysaccharide, is derived from plant cell wall tissue and used in applications ranging from food processing to biomedical engineering. Due to extraction methods and source variation, there is currently no consensus in literature as to the exact structure of pectin. Here, we have studied key material properties of electrospun pectin blends with polyethylene oxide (PEO) (1:1, v/v) in order to demonstrate the fabrication of a fibrous and less toxic material system, as well as to understand the effects of source variability on the resulting fibrous mats. The bulk pectin degree of esterification (DE) estimated using FTIR (bulk apple pomace (AP)=28%, bulk citrus peel (CP)=86% and bulk sugar beet pulp (SBP)=91%) was shown to inversely correlate with electrospun fiber crystallinity determined using XRD (PEO-AP=37%, PEO-CP=28% and PEO-SBP=23%). This in turn affected the trend observed for the mean fiber diameter (n=50) (PEO-AP=124 ± 26 nm, PEO-CP=493 ± 254 nm and PEO-SBP=581 ± 178 nm) and elastic tensile moduli (1.6 ± 0.2 MPa, 4.37 ± 0.64 MPa and 2.49 ± 1.46 MPa, respectively) of the fibrous mats. Electrospun fibers containing bulk AP had the lowest DE, highest crystallinity, smallest mean fiber diameter, and lowest tensile modulus compared to either the bulk CP or bulk SBP. Bound water in PEO-CP fiber and bulk pectin impurities in PEO-SPB were observed to influence fiber branching and mean diameter distributions, which in turn influenced the fiber tensile properties. These results indicate that pectin, when blended with PEO in water, produces submicron fibrous mats with pectin influencing the blend fiber properties. Moreover, the source of pectin is an important variable in creating electrospun blend fibrous mats with desired material properties.

Instability and transport of metal catalyst in the growth of tapered silicon nanowires.

During metal-catalyzed growth of tapered silicon nanowires, or silicon nanocones (SiNCs), Au-Si eutectic particles are seen to undergo significant and reproducible reductions in their diameters. The reductions are accompanied by the transfer of eutectic droplet mass to adjacent, initially metal catalyst-free substrates, producing secondary nucleation and growth of SiNCs. Remarkably, the catalyst particle diameters on the SiNCs grown on the adjacent substrates are strongly correlated with those on the SiNCs grown on the initially Au-nanoparticle-coated substrate. These post-growth nanoparticle sizes depend on temperature and are found to be independent of the initial nanoparticle sizes. Our modeling and analysis indicates that the size reduction and mass transfer could be explained by electrostatic charge-induced dissociation of the droplet. The reduction in size enables the controlled growth of SiNCs with tip sharpnesses approaching the atomic scale, indicating that metal-catalyst nanoparticles can play an even more dynamic role than previously thought, and suggesting additional modes of control of shape, and of nucleation and growth location.