Journal of Nanomedicine & Nanotechnology

Bio-inspired hierarchical structures obtained using electro-spinning enabled techniques

6^th Global Experts Meeting on Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology

April 21-23, 2016 Valencia, Spain

Avinash Baji

Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nanomed Nanotechnol

Abstract:

Natural materials and composites display superior mechanical properties compared to its constituent materials. For example, bones and shells although composed of brittle minerals and soft proteins display high toughness and strength. This is attributed to the organization and structuring of their constituent materials within the composite. Mimicking the size, geometry and the structural design of natural materials can be useful to design and develop new class of synthetic materials. Recently, researchers have used electro-spinning to fabricate bio-inspired materials that have found applications in wide variety of fields. For instance, electro-spinning is used to fabricate fibers with controllable composition and arrangement such that they closely mimic the natural hierarchical structures for development of functional fibers and membranes that display special wettability. In this study, we used electro-spinning to fabricate hierarchical fibrous structures for dry-adhesive applications. These fibers mimic the dry-adhesive mechanisms prevalent in nature, which enables certain animals and insects to scale vertical walls. Briefly, the fibers are electro-spun on the surface of a porous anodized aluminum oxide template (AAO). The AAO template with the fibers is then heated above the glass transition temperature of the polymer. This enables the polymer to flow into the pores of the AAO resulting in the formation of sub-nano structures on the surface of the fibers. These hierarchical structures closely mimic the �??hairy�?? structures found on the feet of certain animals. We then investigate the shear and normal adhesion performance of these samples using a tensile tester and atomic force microscope (AFM). The normal and shear adhesion results reveal that these samples adhere to various surfaces including glass and metals. The durability of the adhesive was also verified by repeating AFM adhesion measurements over 1000 consecutive cycles. The normal pull-off force was seen to be constant over 1000 attachment-detachment cycles. These results show the potential of using these electrospun fibers for dry-adhesive applications.

Biography :

Avinash Baji has completed his PhD from the University of Akron (Akron, Ohio) and Post-doctoral studies from the University of Sydney. He joined SUTD as an Assistant Professor in 2013. His current research interests include fabrication of electro-spun fibers for bio-duplication of dry-adhesion mechanism of natural fibrillar structures. He has authored over 30 journal articles, with additional papers in conference proceedings. Some of these research papers are highly cited with three recent publications specially featured in (i) Lab Talk, nanotechweb.org; (ii) the Top 25 Hottest Articles by Composite Science and Technology (CST) and (iii) List of Most Downloaded CST Articles.

Email: avinash_baji@SUTD.edu.sg