Control of Nanoparticle on Nanofiber via Magnetic Electrospinning

Nanoparticles added into nanofibers produced by electrospinning can expand the functions of such fibers, and these nanoparticles can serve as vehicle for drugs in active drug delivery (ADR) concept. Depending on the toxicity of these nanoparticles, sometime it is desirable to cover toxic ones inside a polymer while benign ones exposed, and release them at programmed time and locations. We achieve this control of nanoparticle position on electrospun nanofiber with magnetism assisted electrospinning. Two horizontal magnet is placed at the receptor position, and nonmagnetic, superparamagnetic, and paramagnetic nanoparticles of Ag, Fe3O4 ( 30 nm) were added inside PVP solutions in electrospinning process. We found the nonmagnetic Ag and superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles exist inside the nanofiber, while paramagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles exist mainly on the surface of nanofibers. The interaction of the magnetic field and the paramagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles at the final stage of nanofiber formation makes this possible.