How to mimic the shapes of plant tendrils on the nano and microscale: spirals and helices of electrospun liquid crystalline cellulose derivatives

Abstract

We show that suspended nano and microfibres electrospun from liquid crystalline cellulosic solutions will curl into spirals if they are supported at just one end, or, if they are supported at both ends, will twist into a helix of one handedness over half of its length and of the opposite handedness over the other half, the two halves being connected by a short straight section. This latter phenomenon, known as perversion, is a consequence of the intrinsic curvature of the fibres and of a topological conservation law. Furthermore, agreement between theory and experiment can only be achieved if account is taken of the intrinsic torsion of the fibres. Precisely the same behaviour is known to be exhibited by the tendrils of climbing plants such as Passiflora edulis, albeit on a lengthscale of millimetres, i.e., three to four orders of magnitude larger than in our fibres. This suggests that the same basic, coarse-grained physical model is applicable across a range of lengthscales.

Cellulose‐Based Biomimetics and Their Applications

“…The helical shapes exhibited by plant tendrils and discussed previously serve as inspiration for reports published by Godinho et al in 2009 and 2010, in which micro and nanofibers of the cellulosic derivative acetoxypropylcellulose (APC) were electrospun from an anisotropic solution. In the paper published in 2009, they reported the similarity between the shapes of the tendrils from Passiflora edulis and the electrospun APC micro and nanofibers.…”

Fabrication of helical microfibers from melt blown polymer blends

“…Melt blowing and electrospinning are the two most important techniques for producing micro/nanofibers, opening possibilities for preparing helical fibers in micro/nanoscale (called “helical micro/nanofibers” in this study). Godinho et al electrospun cellulosic liquid crystalline solution to prepare helical microfilaments, and they believe that the helical fiber formation is attributed to the intrinsic curvature of the system occurs via liquid crystalline disclination. Moreover, the existence of “perversions” in the helical structures is studied .…”

Production of Electrospun Fast-Dissolving Drug Delivery Systems with Therapeutic Eutectic Systems Encapsulated in Gelatin

“…Gelatin is an elastomer and produces fibers with different conformations, being the helix the most typical shape observed (29)(30)(31)(32). However, variations in electrospinning parameters are responsible for other conformations, e.g.…”