Correlating 3D porous structure in polymer films with mass transport properties using FIB-SEM tomography
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 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

Författare

Cecilia Fager

Chalmers, Fysik, Nano- och biofysik

Tobias Gebäck

Chalmers, Matematiska vetenskaper, Tillämpad matematik och statistik

Johan Hjärtstam

AstraZeneca AB

Magnus Röding

Chalmers, Matematiska vetenskaper, Tillämpad matematik och statistik

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Anna Olsson

AstraZeneca AB

Niklas Lorén

Chalmers, Fysik, Nano- och biofysik

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Christian von Corswant

AstraZeneca AB

Aila Särkkä

Chalmers, Matematiska vetenskaper, Tillämpad matematik och statistik

Eva Olsson

Chalmers, Fysik, Nano- och biofysik

Chemical Engineering Science: X

25901400 (eISSN)

Vol. 12 100109

Ämneskategorier

Polymerkemi

Oceanografi, hydrologi, vattenresurser

Multidisciplinär geovetenskap

DOI

10.1016/j.cesx.2021.100109

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2022-04-05