Researchers in the Montana Tech Nanotechnology Laboratory to patent novel nanomanufacturing technology with potential applications in a wide variety of industries
The Montana Tech Nanotechnology Laboratory (MTNL) has announced a groundbreaking discovery in nanomanufacturing with potential applications in a wide variety of industries.
Through the invention of a new device, the researchers can exhibit control over nanofibers in a way that has not been done before. They discovered they could weave fibers together, and even “write” and deposit materials in patterns that mimic letters. A patent on the device is pending.
Peer-reviewed journal Discover Nano recently published “Highly controlled multiplex electrospinning,” an article that details a novel technique for electrospinning nanofibers. Mechanical Engineering Department Head Dr. Jack Skinner is the principal investigator on the project and Research Associate, and Affiliated Assistant Professor Jessica Andriolo is the co-principal investigator. Isaac Gilfeather (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ’20, M.S. General Engineering, ’22) and Materials Science Ph.D. student Harold W. Pearson-Nadal (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ’20) are co-authors.
“In this work, we presented a nanofabrication method that enables us to make tiny polymer structures in precise morphologies,” Andriolo said. “Polymers are biocompatible and flexible and have applications that range from biomedical to energy to membrane filtration. The nanofabrication method presented by MTNL enables the production of materials and devices in specific architectures to fit the application. Work shown in this journal article demonstrates the fabrication of woven nanofiber mats that provide enhanced strength and mechanical properties, torus structures that can be placed around the perimeter of objects, among other complex material morphologies.”
Skinner gave an illustrative description of what the new device can do.
“You can take very small fibers the size of viruses and weave them like a textile,” Skinner said. “This could be used in a number of applications, including biomedical, surgical, defense, and other commercial industries.”
Gilfeather also described the advantages of the new nanofabrication process.
“This system allows you to create structures and patterns that you wouldn’t be able to get with any other system,” Gilfeather said. “Additionally, usually you can only deposit fibers onto conductive materials such as copper, but with this process, you can deposit onto any material.”
It’s a monumental discovery, but Gilfeather remembers that in the beginning, he had doubts it would work. He said his time on the project was a tough experience. His research was done at the height of the pandemic, alone in the basement of Main Hall or the Montana Tech Nanotechnology Laboratory. His task was building the device itself.
“That was my summers during COVID,” Gilfeather said. “It was a really difficult time for me.”
Gilfeather is now able to look back on that time through a more jubilant lens.
“I’m very proud,” Gilfeather said. “It’s definitely the biggest achievement of my life.”
Gilfeather’s work in electrospinning was inspired by a childhood fascination.
“As a kid, I was obsessed with spiders,” he said. “These nanofibers are like synthetic thin spiderwebs. That’s what they look like. They are a polymer, or plastic webbing. They can be used for filters, or as a scaffolding to grow tissues with.”
Gilfeather now works as a research and design engineer in the medical device industry and says his experiences on the project and at Montana Tech have positioned him to be a leader in his field.
Skinner says the importance of the discovery is significant.
“We’ve been working toward this for over 15 years,” Skinner said. “Honestly, it’s really neat, what we’ve been able to do. It’s impressive how far we’ve taken this technology. It’s not a technology that existed before, though we did build upon complimentary techniques that did exist. It took us years to get to this point. It allows us to make structures and do things that weren’t possible before.”
Skinner notes that finding peers willing to review the article was quite difficult because of the novel nature of the technique.
“I’ve never experienced that, where they couldn’t find people to review,” Skinner said.
Now that the article is out after peer review, Skinner believes other scientists will come to Montana Tech to learn more.
Skinner is a Butte native (B.S. General Engineering–Mechanical Option, ’00) who went on to get his M.S. degree from Washington State University, Pullman, WA, in Mechanical Engineering in 2002, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in Mechanical Engineering in 2007. He was a graduate student researcher at the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC) at the University of California, Berkeley from 2004 to 2007, where he developed diffractive optical microsystems. From 2003 to 2012, he was with Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, achieving Principal Member of Technical Staff.
Skinner says he wanted to bring the experience of solving hard problems back to Butte, and through the interdisciplinary collaboration of multiple departments, the long-term vision is starting to pay off.
“It’s very hard to rush innovation. It can take well over 10 years of research to generate the methods and the hardware to innovate new materials and devices. When you do high-risk, high-reward, the payoffs are really long-term,” Skinner said. “At MTNL we focus on getting good people together to work on hard problems. None of this technology happens without bumps. It’s hard work, because if the answers were readily apparent, we wouldn’t be doing it.”
This is the second major discovery for the MTNL in the past few years. In 2019, researchers announced a new technology that could spray paint bandages onto wounds. It made international headlines.
The creation of each nanomanufacturing device and technique only sets the stage for more to come from the laboratory.
“We have other related intellectual property that will come out of this,” Skinner said.