title: Design, construction and performance of a portable handheld electrohydrodynamic multi-needle spray gun for biomedical applications.
abstract: Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) processing has attracted substantial interest in the technological and pharmaceutical sectors in recent years. Given the complexity of the process, exploring new ideas for EHD electrospraying and electrospinning delivery is a challenge. In this article, the design, construction and testing of a portable handheld EHD multi-needle device are described to produce multifunctional particles and fibers. Solid and encapsulated polymer particles and fibers were generated in order to study the performance of the device. The intrinsic properties of the feed solution/suspension and the processing conditions were adjusted to ensure robustness of the process and give uniform and reproducible products, with diameters ranging from the sub-micrometer scale to a few micrometers. These products have a broad range of applications in many advanced industrial sectors e.g. drug delivery systems, wound dressing patches, low calorie food products and cosmetics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE, UK.
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sofokleous
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE, UK; Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering Science, Old Road Campus, University of Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK; AtoCap Ltd, The Network Building, 97 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4TP, UK.
authors.forename: Eleanor
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stride
authors.affiliation: AtoCap Ltd, The Network Building, 97 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4TP, UK.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bonfield
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE, UK; AtoCap Ltd, The Network Building, 97 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4TP, UK. Electronic address: m.edirisinghe@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Mohan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Edirisinghe
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000295:instrumentation; D004867:Equipment Design; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D008853:Microscopy; D009339:Needles; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D019344:Lactic Acid