Regio‐Selective Functionalisation of Electrospun Materials at the Microscale

Abstract

Electrospun nonwovens are highly versatile materials. Significant progress is achieved in terms of materials, methods, and setups, enabling a wide range of applications. However, regio‐selective surface modification of electrospun fibers along their longitudinal axes remains an open challenge. This paper addresses this challenge and presents side‐by‐side electrospinning as a straightforward method for producing functional bead‐on‐string (BOS) fibers. The functional beads carry tertiary amino groups as a platform for further modifications. The beads are arranged in recurring distances along the fiber, allowing a precise fiber modification on the micron scale. This arrangement has been used for modifications with a fluorescent dye and gold nanoparticles (AuNP) in a highly precise and regio‐selective manner. AuNP decorated BOS fiber nonwovens show excellent performance as heterogenous catalysts under flow conditions demonstrating low pressure drop, high turnover frequency, and recyclability.