Correlating 3D porous structure in polymer films with mass transport properties using FIB-SEM tomography
Journal article, 2021
Porous polymer coatings are used to control drug release from pharmaceutical products. The coating covers a drug core and depending on the porous structure, different drug release rates are obtained. This work presents mass transport simulations performed on porous ethyl cellulose films with different porosities. The simulations were performed on high spatial resolution 3D data obtained using a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope. The effective diffusion coefficient of water was determined using a diffusion chamber. Lattice Boltzmann simulations were used to simulate water diffusion in the 3D data. The simulated coefficient was in good agreement with the measured coefficient. From the results it was concluded that the tortuosity and constrictivity of the porous network increase with decreasing amount of added hydroxypropyl cellulose, resulting in a sharp decrease in effective diffusion. This work shows that high spatial resolution 3D data is necessary, and that 2D data is insufficient, in order to predict diffusion through the porous structure with high accuracy.
Focused ion beam
Mass transport
Polymer
Soft material
Scanning electron microscopy
Three dimensional
Author
Cecilia Fager
Chalmers, Physics, Nano and Biophysics
Tobias Gebäck
Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
Johan Hjärtstam
AstraZeneca AB
Magnus Röding
Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
Anna Olsson
AstraZeneca AB
Niklas Lorén
Chalmers, Physics, Nano and Biophysics
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
Christian von Corswant
AstraZeneca AB
Aila Särkkä
Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
Eva Olsson
Chalmers, Physics, Nano and Biophysics
Chemical Engineering Science: X
25901400 (eISSN)
Vol. 12 100109Subject Categories
Polymer Chemistry
Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
DOI
10.1016/j.cesx.2021.100109