The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Developing a labview based thermally stimulated current (tsc) controller to measure residual charge in electrospinning
Author:	Veezhinathan, Jai Abhishekh
View Online:	njit-etd2014-038 (xi, 35 pages ~ 1.0 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Biomedical Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Biomedical Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Collins, George (Committee chair) Arinzeh, Treena Livingston (Committee member) Chandra, N. (Committee member) Mantilla, Bruno A. (Committee member) DeMarco, Robert M. (Committee member)
Date:	2014-01
Keywords:	Electrospinning Nanofiber fabrication Thermally stimulated current
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	Electrospinning is an electrohydrodynamic process for the fabrication of nanofibers which are widely used in therapeutical tissue engineering approaches. It utilizes the potential difference of an electrostatic field to overcome the surface tension of the polymer solution to extrude a fine jet of fluid which deposits on the grounded collector as a nanofiber mat. Using this process, nanofibers with diameters less than a micron can be produced. Previous studies have shown the presence of residual charge in electrospun nanofibers. The presence and decay of residual charge during cell culture media is still unknown. In an attempt to clarify the presence or absence of residual charge during cell culture, a LabVIEW based Thermally Stimulated Current controller is designed. The LabVIEW controller encapsulates the temperature and the electrometer control using RS- 485 and GPIB interfaces. The controller outputs a Temperature-Current plot which is the Thermally Stimulated Current spectrum. The current observed at the melting point of the electrospun material is a direct measure of the residual charge trapped within the nanofiber mat. Using this technique electrospun PolyCaproLactone (PCL) mats are analyzed before and after immersion in culture media and Phosphate Buffer Solution (PBS) for 1, 4 and 7 days.