Generation of biomaterial particles with controlled dimensions via electrospraying

Xiang Li, Gaorong Han, Jie Huang, Mohan Edirisinghe, William Bonfield

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China;.
Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College, London, UK.

DOI: 10.4236/ojrm.2012.11002                

Abstract

It is well known that small biomaterial particles can lead to superior properties demanded by advanced applications in tissue engineering. Electrospraying has been considered as a promising approach to prepare fine particles, but reducing the particle size during such jetting process is always challenging. This is because the size of the as-sprayed particles is always limited by the device outlet diameter used. In the study we show that hydroxyapatite (HA) relics of 2 - 3 μm with low standard deviation can be deposited using a large nozzle (diameter of 1100 μm) only by reducing the nozzle tip angle from 90° to 15°. The mechanism of such phenomenon was extensively discussed, and a range of refined HA patterns were successfully prepared using the updated electrspraying configuration. We anticipate our findings to have a significant impact on the research of nanostructured biomaterials with superior properties which are realized by reducing the particle size using a greener electrically-driven processing technique.

Keywords

Electrospraying; Hydroxyapatite; Nozzle Geometry Effect

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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