Multiscale manufacturing and characterization of nanofibrous structures

纳米级聚合物纤维材料是生命系统的基本构件。从1.5纳米的双螺旋DNA分子链到感觉细胞，纳米纤维形成了组织和器官的细胞外基质。这些细胞之间的特定连接传导由各种刺激产生的电和化学信号。这些信号指导细胞的正常功能，如能量存储、信息存储和检索、组织再生和传感。受到生物系统的多功能纳米纤维本质的启发，通过目前的NSERC发现基金，功能纳米纤维的概念已经通过开发能够制造由功能纳米颗粒和聚合物基质组成的复合纳米纤维的共电纺丝工艺而成功地得到证明。这导致了许多令人兴奋的潜在应用在能源，环境和医疗保健行业。然而，研究也发现，纳米纤维结构的强度和弹性模量等结构性能低于预期。在单个纤维层面上缺乏对纳米纤维的结构和性质的基本了解，从而阻碍了我们分级/多尺度设计/制造纳米纤维结构的能力。人们认识到，在单个纤维层面上需要有操纵和表征纳米纤维材料的能力。为了将纳米纤维特性与高阶结构连接起来，必须对纳米纤维特性到线性纤维组件、平面和三维纤维组件以及复合结构的转换进行表征和理解。为了缩小技术准备水平与将纳米纤维技术从实验室的好奇转变为制造现实之间的差距，必须解决扩大制造的问题。因此，我们的目标是将这一拟议计划中产生的基础知识连接起来，形成纳米、微观乃至最终的宏观结构，从而形成多功能结构，用于与能源、环境和医疗保健相关的复合纳米纤维的各种应用。

Nanoscale polymeric fibrous materials are the fundamental building blocks of living systems. From 1.5nm double helix strands of DNA molecules to sensory cells, nanoscale fibers form the extracellular matrices for tissues and organs. Specific junctions between these cells conduct electrical and chemical signals that result from various kinds of stimulation. The signals direct normal functions of the cells such as energy storage, information storage and retrieval, tissue regeneration, and sensing. Inspired by the multifunctional nanofibrous nature of living systems, through the current NSERC Discovery grant, the concept of functional nanofibres has been successfully demonstrated by the development of co-electrospinning processes capable of fabricating composite nanofibres consisting of functional nanoparticles and polymeric matrices. This led to many exciting potential applications in energy, environment and health care industry. However it was also founded that the structural properties such as strength and modulus of the nanofibrous structures are below expectation. There is a lack of fundamental understanding of the structure and properties of nanofibres at the individual fibre level thus impeding our ability for hierarchical/multiscale design/fabrication of nanofibrous structures. It was recognized that an ability to manipulate and characterize nanofibrous materials is needed at the individual fibre level. In order to connect nanofibre properties to higher order structures the translation of nanofibre properties to linear fibre assemblies, planar and 3D fibre assemblies as well as composite structures must be characterized and understood. In order to close the gap between Technology Readiness Levels and turning nanofibre technology from a laboratory curiosity to manufacturing reality the issue of scale up manufacturing must be addressed. Accordingly our objective is to connect the fundamental level knowledge generated in this proposed program to form nano-, micro- and eventually macro-structures that will lead to multifunctional structures for various applications of composite nanofibres related to energy, environment and health care.