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The production of nanofibers of bioactive glass by laser spinning is reported. The technique yields a great quantity of free-standing fibers in the form of a mesh of disordered intertwined fibers. The method does not rely on chemical processing and does not need any chemical additive. It involves melting of a precursor material with tailored composition, which makes it possible to produce nanofibers from materials with which conventional melt drawing techniques cannot be used. Herein, the production of 45S5 Bioglass® nanofibers is reported for the first time. The process is very fast (nanofibers of several centimeters are grown in a fraction of a second), without the necessity of post heat treatments, and no devitrification was observed as a result of 2 the laser spinning process. The morphology, composition and structure of the nanofibers were characterized and their bioactivity assessment was carried out by immersion in SBF. This technique provides a method for the rapid production of dense glass nanofibers which can be employed as bioactive nanocomposite reinforcement, as a synthetic bone graft to replace missing bone, or to produce 3D structures for use as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

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