Researcher(s)
- Kritee Sangroula, Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware
Faculty Mentor(s)
- LaShanda Korley, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware
Abstract
Aligned stimuli-responsive polymeric nanofibers have recently gained significant attention due to their use in a wide range of applications including sensing, membrane filtration and in healthcare devices. Some of the key advantages that make the aligned nanofibers versatile for various applications include their enhanced mechanical strength, their ability to undergo spatially reversible response controlled by the alignment of fiber and their high surface area to volume ratio. Traditionally a robust electrospinning technique is utilized to produce aligned functional nanofiber having varied diameter. Although commonly prepared via electrospinning, preparation of aligned nanofibers having varied functional groups in a reliable and tunable fashion remains a challenge.
In this work, we fabricate poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) nanofibers using an electrospinning setup. The resulting aligned electrospun PAA nanofibers have a carboxylate functional group contributing to their responsive nature. Increasing the thickness of these fiber mats via controlled solvent casting volume enhanced the number of carboxylate functional groups. The resulting PAA fiber mats were embedded within a soft ethylene oxide-co-epichlorohydrin (EO-EPI) matrix to form a responsive single layer electrospun composite. Additionally, we also prepared bilayer composites by adding a rigid, passive layer (non-responsive layer) of a low molecular weight gel in EO-EPI. These composites having varied carboxylate functionalities exhibited controlled response towards ions and electricity. Furthermore, a drug delivery experiment was performed using a sunset yellow dye demonstrating controlled release of a loaded drug facilitated by ion exchange. In summary, we fabricated PAA composites having aligned structures and varied carboxylate functional groups which showed controlled response to ions and electricity.