Electrospinning for nano- to mesoscale photonic structures

Abstract

Abstract:The fabrication of photonic and electronic structures and devices has directed the manufacturing industry for the last 50 years. Currently, the majority of small-scale photonic devices are created by traditional microfabrication techniques that create features by processes such as lithography and electron or ion beam direct writing. Microfabrication techniques are often expensive and slow. In contrast, the use of electrospinning (ES) in the fabrication of microand nano-scale devices for the manipulation of photons and electrons provides a relatively simple and economic viable alternative. ES involves the delivery of a polymer solution to a capillary held at a high voltage relative to the fiber deposition surface. Electrostatic force developed between the collection plate and the polymer promotes fiber deposition onto the collection plate. Issues with ES fabrication exist primarily due to an instability region that exists between the capillary and collection plate and is characterized by chaotic motion of the depositing polymer fiber. Material limitations to ES also exist; not all polymers of interest are amenable to the ES process due to process dependencies on molecular weight and chain entanglement or incompatibility with other polymers and overall process compatibility. Passive and active electronic and photonic fibers fabricated through the ES have great potential for use in light generation and collection in optical and electronic structures/ devices. ES produces fiber devices that can be combined with inorganic, metallic, biological, or organic materials for novel device design. Synergistic material selection and postprocessing techniques are also utilized for broad-ranging applications of organic nanofibers that span from biological to electronic, photovoltaic, or photonic. As the ability to electrospin optically and/or electronically active materials in a controlled manner continues to improve, the complexity and diversity of devices fabricated from this process can be expected to grow rapidly and provide an alternative to traditional resource-intensive fabrication techniques.

Photonics in nature and bioinspired designs: sustainable approaches for a colourful world

“…However, ES has limitations, due to instability during the chaotic motion of the depositing bres, and not all polymers are amenable to be used. 113 Although there is a wide range of choices regarding mechanisms to obtain PCs whose structure allows properties similar to the ones found in nature, it is still important to increasingly substitute synthetic materials for biomaterials, to assure their biocompatible and non-toxic applications. This topic will be reviewed next.…”

“…However, ES has limitations, due to instability during the chaotic motion of the depositing fibres, and not all polymers are amenable to be used. 113 …”

Nano–Micro Dimensional Structures of Fiber‐Shaped Luminous Halide Perovskite Composites for Photonic and Optoelectronic Applications

“…The geometrical advantages of the fibers with a high aspect ratio and an active surface/contact area can be superior to its film counterparts for optical sensing operations. [ 145 ] In addition to aforementioned geometrical advantages, production of nano‐micro fiber structures by solution based spinning methods could further benefits specific surface area while forming porous structure on its surface to allow a high sensitivity for analyte. [ 146,147 ] Operation mechanism of fluorescence‐detection based optical sensors relied on the PL intensity variation and wavelength shifting with chromaticity change of emission as a consequence of energy transfer.…”

“…[ 84,160–163 ] To observe waveguiding in elongated systems, polymer possessed high refractive index around 1.3–1.6 could be good candidates as waveguiding media enabling light confinement within the structure. [ 145 ] Promoted homogenous nanocrystals dispersion of fiber spinning could further facilitate suppression of optical loss by quenching due to nanocrystal aggregation or energy transfer through adjacent nanocrystals.…”

Electrospinning process parameters optimization for biofunctional curcumin/gelatin nanofibers

“…Preparation of polymeric fibers is not a simple task. There are many preparation processes possible which can vary the characteristics of polymeric fibers of the available techniques, electrospinning is considered as an efficient technique to prepare polymeric nanofibers that are polymeric, synthetic or natural, biodegradable or nonbiodegradable, etc, having uniform diameters (5 nm to several hundred nanometers) from a wide variety of polymers and composite solutions [1][2][3]. Electrospinning is preferred over other conventional methods in recent research papers to prepare polymer nanofibers.…”