Interested in using a nanofiber material for your next project?
Itso Ivanov
Engineer
Stephen Farias
Chief Science Officer
Mike Pallotta
Production Manager
Ronish Shrestha
Applications Scientist
Electrospinning Applications
Materic designs, prototypes, and manufactures custom nanomaterials for internally-developed products and collaborative research.
Technical Textiles
Functional fibers. Technical textiles. Smart garments.
Our clothing could tell us when we are sick, alert us to danger, cool us when we are hot, shield us from harm, and so much more. These kinds of developing technologies will need fibers with high surface areas, aligning dipoles, and/or nano-level structuring of materials, and electrospinning can be used to make them.
Surface Active Materials
Electrospinning creates high-surface-area-to-volume ratios needed for most catalyst systems. In some cases, this requires electrospinning a commodity polymer, then depositing a catalyst on its surface. In others, the catalyst is blended into the polymer solution before electrospinning. The electrospun polymer may also, itself, be a catalyst. Regardless of the method you prefer, we’re ready to help.
Specialty Applications
Whether your goal is to invent a new market or to publish a groundbreaking paper — if it involves nanofibers, we are here to help. Our professional network also extends into large universities, government labs, and heavy industry. If we don’t have the right knowledge or capabilities for your application in-house, we’ll connect you with the right people.
Products
Materic has licensed unique IP and developed in-house products, including piezoelectric yarns that can serve as battery-free sensors in smart textiles, gelatin-based nanofiber BioPapers for 3D bioprinting and regenerative medicine, and high-performance face mask filtration membranes.
Filter Material
DPM Filters use electrospun nanofibers to provide air filtration to almost any specification. Originally developed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as an emergency replacement for N95 masks, the DPM Filter product line has since been expanded to a range of specialty products, including a transparent filter.
Machines
We develop and produce equipment for the largest electrospinning machine manufacturers. This ensures we can both develop on robust rigs, and scale projects as needed.
Materials We Work With
Polymer Materials
Materic uses a solution electrospinning process. The process allows nanofibers to be produced from virtually any polymeric material that can be solubilized. Example polymers Materic has spun include:
- Cellulose acetate
- Chitosan
- Fluoropolymers
- Gelatins
- Polyacrylates
- Polyacrylonitrile
- Polyamide (nylon 6)
- Polyamide-co-ether block copolymers
- Polybenzylglutamate
- Polycaprolactone
- Polyester-co-ether block copolymers
- Polyethylene oxide/polyethylene glycol
- Polymethylpentene
- Polystyrene
- Polyvinylpyrrolidone
- Thermoplastic urethanes
Non-polymer Materials
Non-polymer materials fall into several categories, but are commonly incorporated within a polymer matrix that may or may not be sacrificed after spinning. Examples from Materic’s work include:
Inorganics
- Iron oxide
- Rare-earth lanthanide
- Carbon nanotubes
- Silver nanoparticles
- Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
Small Molecules
- Active pharmaceutical ingredient
- Flavorants/Aromatics
- Essential oils
Available Options
Electrospinning
- Needle-less
- Needle
- Direct to yarn
- Flat plate collection
- Mandrel collection
- Continuous roll collection
- Multi-layer spinning
- 1 – 200 gsm deposition
- Electric field modeling
Substrates
- Metals
- Papers
- Synthetic textiles
- Natural textiles
- Wovens
- Non-wovens
Post Processing
- Thermal lamination
- Selective extraction
- Wet coating
- CAD / 3D Printing
- CNC cutting
Characterization/Testing
- SEM
- XRD
- TGA
- Particle filtration
- Pressure drop
- Tear strength
Education
Learn from the world’s leading electrospinning experts. Hosted by Materic and sponsored by Elmarco, this web series brings 20 content-packed events over a single year, focused on topics we’ve found are most important to our clients.
Taking nanofiber innovations from benchtop to production is never easy, but we can show you that it’s more than doable. That’s why we’re featuring experts from industry and academia to discuss the challenges and solutions involved in scale-up electrospinning. Join us for our inaugural webinar series, in which we’ll show you how to scale electrospun inventions, understand the supply chain landscape, design your own pilot plant, and hit all the right specs you need to grow.
Nanofibers have immense potential in the medical field to direct cell growth, modify tooling properties, and serve as drug release substrates. Electrospun devices are emerging as cornerstone technologies in devices, pharmaceuticals and regenerative medicine applications. Developing specifications for nanofiber technologies remains of pressing importance in this highly regulated field. There is no better time than now to learn about how tissue engineering, drug release, regulation, and standardization are forming a novel field of research and invention. We hope you join us in this speaker series as we delve into these fascinating topics.
Hear about how electrospinning is used in sensing applications, including biomonitoring and chemical monitoring. We will host speakers in the electronics, wearables, and sensors space, and discuss sensor industry trends, as well as how repeatability and reliability in the industry can be controlled, and how to make fully formed devices.
Though “nano” in name, nanofibers have applications in industries as large as textiles. This quarter, we will discuss nanofibers used in garments, facemasks, protective wear, and sportswear. We will explore fascinating features of nanofiber textiles, such as wearable applications to sports and protection from harsh environmental factors. Join us as we speak to industry technologists, business specialists, and leaders, and uncover the fascinating ways electrospun nanofibers can be used in the textiles we use every day.
Question & Answer Sessions
We have compiled some of the most interesting questions and answers from the past year for your connivence. We will be posting more snippets as we compile them.
History
Dr. James West and his team at Johns Hopkins University invent a process that produces piezoelectric (energy harvesting) polymer nanofibers in a single manufacturing step. The method uses an electrospinning process to produce sub-micron piezoelectric fibers of poly(benzyl glutamate) (PBLG) directly from solution. The invention is later granted a U.S. patent — for one of over 250 patents Dr. West has been granted over his career.
DiPole Materials, Inc. (now a Materic subsidiary) is co-founded by the initial team, including James West, Ken Malone, Kelli Booth, and Scott Gaboury, to focus on the development of novel electrospun materials. DiPole licenses the PBLG electrospinning IP portfolio from Johns Hopkins University to develop its use as an energy harvester in smart textiles.
DiPole is awarded a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant to develop piezoelectric fibers for use in smart garments. The program focuses on using electrospun piezoelectric nanofibers to produce a yarn capable of being woven or knitted on standard industrial equipment, and then to prototype textiles capable of generating electrical outputs suitable for sensing and energy harvesting.
DiPole is awarded two grants through the Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) Under these programs, DiPole evaluates the technical and commercial feasibility of nanofiber scaffolds (BioPapers), produced from pure natural polymers, as cell culture substrates. The technology, developed and patented by the US Naval Research Laboratory, produces biocompatible substrates for 3D bioprinting. DiPole’s commercial analysis shows rapid growth is predicted in a broad range of potential cell culture applications.
DiPole obtains an license with the US Naval Research Laboratory on the patent covering fabrication of electrospun Bio Papers produced from natural polymers.
The Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) Program funds DiPole and Prof. Gymama Slaughter from the University of Maryland to study BioPapers for advance cell-based assays in drug discovery and tissue engineering.
The Abell Foundation invests in DiPole to establish manufacturing capacity.
DiPole expands its laboratory and manufacturing facilities. The new site in Baltimore, MD is both ISO 9001 (General quality management) and ISO 13485 (Medical device quality management) certified. A portion of the additional facility is used to accommodate the installation of new manufacturing equipment. This equipment enables the production of continuous electrospun nanofiber matrices in a roll-to-roll process. DiPole utilizes the equipment to produce its own BioPaper cell culture products as well as custom materials for joint development partners.
DiPole commerically launches BioPapers for use in tissue engineering, 3D bioprinting, and drug screening. BioPapers are made of gelatin nanofibers and specially treated to provide a robust scaffold upon which to grow cells. BioPapers mimic the cell’s natural environment, overcoming the major drawback of cell culture plates and other synthetic environments that cause cells to grow in unnatural ways.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, DiPole rapidly pivots from its custom manufacturing processes to around-the-clock production of filters, to meet emergency demand for medical masks. The DiPole team and volunteers from area universities partner with cut and sew shops, makersspaces, and engineering companies in Maryland to integrate newly produced filters into their masks, to increase the protection provided to healthcare workers.
