Tailoring Fibre Structure Enabled by X-ray Analytics for Targeted Biomedical Applications

Journal Article · 30 March 2022 · Chimia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2022.229 · OSTI ID:1870510

Schoeller, Jean ^[1]; Avaro, Jonathan ^[2]; Maurya, Anjani K. ^[3]; Rossi, René M. ^[1]; Neels, Antonia ^[4]

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1. Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), St. Gallen (Switzerland); Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zurich (Switzerland)
2. Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Dübendorf (Switzerland)
3. Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), St. Gallen and Dübendorf (Switzerland); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
4. Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Dübendorf (Switzerland); Univ. of Freiburg (Switzerland)

The rising interest in designing fibres via spinning techniques combining the properties of various polymeric materials into advanced functionalised materials is directed towards targeted biomedical applications such as drug delivery, wearable sensors or tissue engineering. Understanding how these functional polymers exhibit multiscale structures ranging from the molecular level to nano-, micro-and millimetre scale is a key prerequisite for their challenging applications that can be addressed by a non-destructive X-ray based analytical approach. X-ray multimodalities combining X-ray imaging, scattering and diffraction allow the study of morphology, molecular structure, and the analysis of nano-domain size and shape, crystallinity and preferential orientation in 3D arrangements. The incorporation of X-ray analytics in the design process of polymeric fibers via their nanostructure under non-ambient conditions (i.e. temperature, mechanical load, humidity…) allows for efficient optimization of the fabrication process as well as quality control along the product lifetime under operating environmental conditions. Here, we demonstrate the successful collaboration between the laboratory of Biomimetic Textiles and Membranes and the Center of X-ray Analytics at Empa for the design, characterisation and optimisation of advanced functionalised polymeric fibrous material systems.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1870510
• Journal Information: Chimia, Vol. 76, Issue 3; ISSN 0009-4293
• Publisher: Swiss Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English