Generation of airborne particles toward inhalation drug delivery via electro-neutralization electrospray

This paper reports a one-step aerosol generation and delivery method based on electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) for pulmonary drug delivery. By using inflight electro-neutralization electrospray (IFENE), the surface charge of particles was significantly reduced, allowing the generated aerosols to travel freely in open space while still having the desirable size. The IFENE method delivery ability was demonstrated by generating particles from different types of polymeric solution. The results showed that particles from IFENE method had the size distribution lying in the respirable range (lower than 5 µm) and surface charge significantly lower than normal electrospray and other inhalation devices. Along with the simple design, IFENE shows great potential to become a one-step pulmonary drug delivery device for various biomedical applications.