Electrospinning device sprays bandages directly on wounds

The technology, devised by a group at Montana Technological University, is based on the electrospinning process, a method for developing polymer fibres for a wide variety of applications if biocompatible materials are used, the fibres produced can be used for biomedical applications.

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Bioprinting skin cells directly onto wounds

Whilst electrospinning can be used to deposit biocompatible materials, it requires very high voltages, making direct deposition of the fibres onto biological material potentially dangerous. However, the group has overcome this challenge by developing a device with a confined electric field that can safely deposit bandages and drugs directly onto biological surfaces.

What’s more, instead of using the voltage difference between the tool and a surface to deposit the fibres, the new device uses air to spray the fibres out onto the surface, like a can of spray paint.

A paper on the instrument, dubbed the electrostatic and air-driven device, is published in the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B.