Chitosan Microgels and Nanoparticles via Electrofluidodynamic Techniques for Biomedical Applications

Electrofluidodynamics techniques (EFDTs) are emerging methodologies based on liquid atomization induced by electrical forces to obtain a fine suspension of particles from hundreds of micrometers down to nanometer size. As a function of the characteristic size, these particles are interesting for a w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vincenzo Guarino, Rosaria Altobelli, Luigi Ambrosio
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2016-01-01
Series:Gels
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/2/1/2
Description
Summary:Electrofluidodynamics techniques (EFDTs) are emerging methodologies based on liquid atomization induced by electrical forces to obtain a fine suspension of particles from hundreds of micrometers down to nanometer size. As a function of the characteristic size, these particles are interesting for a wide variety of applications, due to the high scalability of chemical and physical properties in comparison to the bulk form. Here, we propose the optimization of EFDT techniques to design chitosan systems in the form of microgels or nanoparticles for several biomedical applications. Different microscopy techniques (Optical, SEM, TEM) have been used to investigate the morphology of chitosan systems at multiple size scale. The proposed study confirms the high versatility and feasibility of EFDTs for creating micro and nano-sized carriers for cells and drug species.
ISSN:2310-2861