From Biological Cilia to Artificial Flow Sensors: Biomimetic Soft Polymer Nanosensors with High Sensing Performance
Name
From biological.pdf
Size
1.65 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Asadnia, Mohsen
Kottapalli, Ajay Giri Prakash
Karavitaki, K. Domenica
Warkiani, Majid Ebrahimi
Miao, Jianmin
Corey, David P.
Triantafyllou, Michael S
Date Issued
September 2016
Journal
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Asadnia, Mohsen et al. “From Biological Cilia to Artificial Flow Sensors: Biomimetic Soft Polymer Nanosensors with High Sensing Performance.” Scientific Reports 6.1 (2016): n. pag.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We report the development of a new class of miniature all-polymer flow sensors that closely mimic the intricate morphology of the mechanosensory ciliary bundles in biological hair cells. An artificial ciliary bundle is achieved by fabricating bundled polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micro-pillars with graded heights and electrospinning polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric nanofiber tip links. The piezoelectric nature of a single nanofiber tip link is confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Rheology and nanoindentation experiments are used to ensure that the viscous properties of the hyaluronic acid (HA)-based hydrogel are close to the biological cupula. A dome-shaped HA hydrogel cupula that encapsulates the artificial hair cell bundle is formed through precision drop-casting and swelling processes. Fluid drag force actuates the hydrogel cupula and deflects the micro-pillar bundle, stretching the nanofibers and generating electric charges. Functioning with principles analogous to the hair bundles, the sensors achieve a sensitivity and threshold detection limit of 300 mV/(m/s) and 8 μm/s, respectively. These self-powered, sensitive, flexible, biocompatibale and miniaturized sensors can find extensive applications in navigation and maneuvering of underwater robots, artificial hearing systems, biomedical and microfluidic devices.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep32955
