sensor which uses whispering gallery modes (WGMs) in dielectric microspheres for biomolecular detection. The WGMs are excited by evanescent coupling to an etch-eroded single mode optical fiber. WGM resonance positions are detected as Lorentzian dips in the intensity of the fiber-transmitted light. The polarization of molecules interacting with the evanescent field of the WGM on the microsphere ...

Electrospinning is a versatile process used to prepare micro- and nano- sized fibers from various polymers dissolved in volatile solvents. In this report, cellulose and cellulose-heparin composite fibers are prepared from nonvolatile room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) solvents by electrospinning. RTILs are extracted from the biopolymer fiber after the fiber formation using a cosolvent. Micron...

In this study, we have mapped the surface charge of wool fibers using chemically specific high-resolution force spectroscopy in order to better understand the dispersion of amino acids in relation to fiber morphology. The inter-surface forces between standard atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe tips (tip radius ~ 50 nm) functionalized with COOH and NH(3) terminated alkanethiol self assembling m...

The cells in natural tissues and organs have diverse shapes and arrangements in structure. The tissue engineering scaffolds which have a specific extracellular matrix structure can be prepared by electro spun fibers having a diverse arrangement in structure and thus guide adherent cells grow, proliferate and divide into the regenerative tissue or organs which have specific cell morphology and o...

Electrospinning method was used to fabricate poly(L-lactide-co-D,L-lactide) (PLDLA) nanofiber non-woven membranes. The structure and morphology of the electrospun membranes were investigated by a scanning electron microscope (JEOL) after a gold coating. The diameter of the electrospun fiber was measured by Adobe Photoshop 5.0 software from the SEM pictures. SEM images showed that the fiber diam...

An ultralow coupling loss and broad bandwidth fiber-to-waveguide mode-size converter is demonstrated for nano-scale waveguides on SOI platform using CMOS technology in this paper. The mode-size converter consists of a cantilevered PECVD SiO(2) waveguide and a-Si nano-tapers by removing the adjacent SiO(2) layer and underlying substrate Si. The a-Si waveguide is located at the center of the cant...

Replicating the nanostructured components of extracellular matrix is a target for dermal tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Electrospinning Bombyx mori silk fibroin (BMSF) allows the production of nano- to microscale fibrous scaffolds. For BMSF electrospun scaffolds to be successful, understanding and optimizing the cellular response to material morphology is essential. Primary human...

Potassium methyl siliconate (PMS) was investigated as a new nano modifier of wood fiber and wood flour to improve the compatibility between the fiber/flour and the plastic matrix in fiber reinforced plastic composites. Before injection molding, bleached and brown pulp fibers and mixed species wood flour were pretreated in PMS solutions. The morphology of the treated and untreated fiber and flou...

Questions about how to regulate nanoenhanced products regularly arise as researchers determine possible nanoparticle transformation(s). Focusing concern on the incorporation and subsequent release of nano-Ag in fabrics often overshadows the fact that many "conventional silver" antimicrobials such as ionic silver, AgCl, metallic Ag, and other forms will also form different species of silver. In ...