It has become increasingly evident that the mechanical and electrical environment of a cell is crucial in determining its function and the subsequent behavior of multicellular systems. Platforms through which cells can directly interface with mechanical and electrical stimuli are therefore of great interest. Piezoelectric materials are attractive in this context because of their ability to interconvert mechanical and electrical energy, and piezoelectric nanomaterials, in particular, are ideal candidates for tools within mechanobiology, given their ability to both detect and apply small forces on a length scale that is compatible with cellular dimensions. The choice of piezoelectric material is crucial to ensure compatibility with cells under investigation, both in terms of stiffness and biocompatibility. Here, we show that poly-L-lactic acid nanotubes, grown using a melt-press template wetting technique, can provide a "soft" piezoelectric interface onto which human dermal fibroblasts readily attach. Interestingly, by controlling the crystallinity of the nanotubes, the level of attachment can be regulated. In this work, we provide detailed nanoscale characterization of these nanotubes to show how differences in stiffness, surface potential, and piezoelectric activity of these nanotubes result in differences in cellular behavior.
The paper presents the modeling and simulation of a Nitinol based microactuator for evaluation of the characteristics of this microactuator. The displacement, pressure, stress and von mises stress characteristics are presented and verified using COMSOL Multiphysics 4.4.The characterization of these parameters proves to be useful in the development of the design of these smart actuators exhibiting shape memory effect. The resistivity of Nitinol is suitable for Joules Heating. Therefore microactuator in this current study is of dimensions 1000×600×200µm is characterized at different temperature during the martensitic and austenitic phase transformation.
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