Spinning nanofibers for commercial use

Picture a fiber with a diameter one hundred times thinner than a human hair. They’re called polymer nanofibers—and they’re used in filtration and smart textiles, fuel cells and regenerative tissue engineering in the body.

One Rowan engineer has developed novel methods to manufacture these polymer nanofibers. Using a process called electrospinning, Vince Beachley, Ph.D., has developed new technology to make continuous yarns and textiles out of these nanofiber filaments.

This has applications in the biomedical industry. Improved manufacturing methods are needed to strengthen nanofilament yarns and textiles, so they can be used one day in orthopedic surgery to reconnect tendons to bone, for example. The yarns have a positive physiological reaction with the body, meaning cells will grow on the nanofilament, which is important for tissue regeneration.  

“Cell interactions with nanofibers have proven time and time again to have a good physiological reaction with the body. Nanofibers have shown improved performance in tissue regeneration compared to microfibers,” said Beachley, associate dean of research and innovation at the Rowan-Virtua School of Translational Biomedical Engineering & Sciences in the Virtua Health College of Medicine & Life Sciences and associate professor in the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering.

Beachley and colleagues have recently received funding from the National Science Foundation to improve the efficiency of the technology to manufacture a stronger type of nanofibers—called aligned nanofibers—and to determine the most optimal path toward commercializing the technology. 

Beachley’s research has also received support from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and New Jersey Health Foundation.

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