Simultaneous Generation and Delivery of Neutral Polymeric Aerosol by Electro-Hydrodynamic Nebulizer

This work presents a new approach to simultaneously generate and deliver polymeric aerosol for inhalational therapeutics. We developed an electro-hydrodynamic nebulizer (eNeb) based on the principle of the balance of charge. Our nebulizer contains two electrodes, each serves as the emitter and also the reference electrode of each other. This allows the device to generate clouds of oppositely charged particles and ion wind from corona discharge. The two clouds impinge, neutralize each other, and the generated particles are pushed forward by the momentum accumulated from the corona discharge. This approach allows our eNeb to transforms a liquid solution into polymeric particles with the size within 1 – 5 μm range and directly deliver them toward a target. Herein, we investigated our eNeb via simulation, experiments, and analysis of final products. This single-step nebulizer enables drug delivery via inhalational approach using nanomedicine.