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组成部分。从1.5nm的DNA分子双螺旋链到感觉细胞，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引起的电信号和化学信号。 这些信号指导细胞的正常功能，如能量储存、信息储存和检索、组织再生和感知。受生命系统的多功能纳米纤维性质的启发，通过目前的NSERC发现资助，功能性纳米纤维的概念已经通过能够制造由功能性纳米颗粒和聚合物基质组成的复合纳米纤维的共静电纺丝工艺的发展得到了成功的证明。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，也发现纳米纤维结构的结构性质如强度和模量低于预期。在单个纤维水平上对纳米纤维的结构和性质缺乏基本的了解，从而阻碍了我们对纳米纤维结构的分层/多尺度设计/制造的能力。人们认识到，在单个纤维水平上需要操纵和表征纳米纤维材料的能力。为了将纳米纤维性质与更高阶结构相联系，必须表征和理解纳米纤维性质向线性纤维组装体、平面和3D纤维组装体以及复合结构的转化。为了缩小技术准备水平与将纳米纤维技术从实验室好奇心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，我们的目标是将该计划中产生的基础知识连接起来，以形成纳米，微米和最终的宏观结构，从而为与能源，环境和医疗保健相关的复合纳米纤维的各种应用带来多功能结构。

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.