UC Case 2015-320
SUMMARY
UCLA researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering have developed a new thermal drawing technology to fabricate multifunctional core/clad fibers with individually-addressable micro/nanosize metal nanowire cores.
BACKGROUND
Core/clad fibers with metal microwire cores have been utilized in a wide range of applications. The typical thermal drawing process is capable of fabricating continuous core/clad fibers with metal core diameter down to the micrometer scale. However, inherent surface energy constraints and core/clad differences in interfacial energies, melting points, and viscosities limit the achievable core diameter and materials choices of core/clad fibers, thus restricting the development and application of new multifunctional fibers.
INNOVATION
UCLA researchers from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering have developed a new thermal drawing technology to fabricate continuous multifunctional core/clad fibers with metal cores down to the nanometer scale. By mixing nanoparticles to tune viscosity and surface energy in the metal core and/or cladding, long nanocomposite fibers with multiple continuous, small-diameter metal nanowire cores can be sustainably fabricated through iterative thermal drawings.
APPLICATIONS
• Existing and emerging applications, such as to address an unmet need in cellular electrophysiology and cell-based assays.
• The technology is ideal for fabricating fiber-type individually-addressable nanoelectrode arrays for high-resolution biosensors.
• The technology may also find potentials in fabricating ultralong plasmonic and metamaterial fibers for communications.
ADVANTAGES
• Much smaller core diameter and better core-to-core isolation can be achieved to address high-resolution applications.
• No melting point matching between metal core and glass/polymer cladding is needed, thus broadening the range of available core materials.
• Low-temperature fiber drawing can be facilitated to reduce the fabrication cost.
• Much smaller core-to-core spacing can be achieved to provide high filling factor.
• Inherent 3D assembly of electrodes enables continuous transition from macroscale on one end to nanoscale on the other end to address nano-to-macro interfacing problem.
• Nanoelectrode array is individually-addressable
STATE OF DEVELOPMENT
Electrode arrays with diameters down to a few hundreds of nanometers have been achieved.
PATENT STATUS
United States Of America Published Application 20180010266 01/11/2018