Fabrication of biopolymer-based optical fibers for short-distance applications
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Perustieteiden korkeakoulu |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
2021-12-14
Department
Major/Subject
Advanced Materials for Innovation and Sustainability
Mcode
SCI3083
Degree programme
Master’s Programme in Advanced Materials for Innovation and Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
57 + 7
Series
Abstract
The extraordinary ability of optical fibers to control and propagate light has sparked a revolution in modern high-capacity communication networks. Beyond data networks, the state-of-the-art glass and plastic optical fibers have also been studied for numerous biomedical applications, including laser surgery, optogenetics, phototherapy and biosensing. However, commercial optical fibers have several disadvantages due to their brittle nature, non-biocompatibility and non-degradability necessary for biomedical applications. Therefore, there is a need to develop optical fibers from biopolymers that are biocompatible and biodegradable. Because of their biocompatible nature, biopolymer optical fibers can remain in the human body for a long time without iliciting an immune response. Because of their biodegradable nature, surgical removal after their use is not necessary. This thesis aimed to identify critical parameters to fabricate and characterize biopolymer optical fibers using environmentally benign fiber spinning methods. Three types of biopolymers, viz., alginate, carboxymethylcellulose and methylcellulose, were used for fiber preparation. The hydrogels prepared from the biopolymers were used for fiber extrusion using either wet-spinning or dry-jet wet spinning. The fibers were ionically cross-linked using metal ions under ambient conditions. The resulting fibers were then optically characterized for their waveguiding properties using the cutback method. The optical characterization suggests that the alginates-based fibers are not suitable for waveguiding due to very little light propagation. Interestingly, carboxymethylcellulose fibers displayed very low optical loss. This is on par or better than biopolymer optical fibers reported in the literature. The results encourage to explore further the potential of naturally abundant and renewable biomaterials for short-distance optical fibers.Description
Supervisor
Ikkala, OlliThesis advisor
Nonappa, NonappaKeywords
biopolymers, optical fibers, alginate, methylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, cutback method