A hierarchical porous polymer film that can provide a
balance of
mechanical properties and specific surface areas and sustain cell
functions has become a major target for material scientists and bioengineers
in the past decade. However, the limited availability of materials
that exhibit high mechanical performance and easily form hierarchical
porous structures hinder the progress in practical application. Here,
we show the design of a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)
hybrid polymer by incorporating a bi-functional glycidyl-propyl
POSS (G-POSS) into the epoxy polymer backbone, in which POSS functions
as both a nanofiller to reinforce the mechanical performance and as
the polarity mediator to induce self-assembly of the polymer chains
into a three-dimensional (3D) connected porous structure. Nanoindentation
shows that the incorporation of POSS leads to a 25 and 36% increase
in modulus and hardness, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy
results show that POSS helps tune the hydrophobicity of the polymer
and assists in the interface assembly, allowing easy formation of
a densely packed two-dimensional or 3D hierarchical porous structure.
Culture of mouse embryonic fibroblast cells demonstrates that the
hybrid polymer scaffold provides prominent advantages ranging from
enhanced cell adhesion to proliferation. Particularly, the 3D hierarchical
porous film allows good nutrient supply and cell communication, which
better mimics the in vivo microenvironment with less cell morphology
change during cell proliferation. Hence, the successful integration
of high material strength and easy formation of an interconnected
porous structure shows that POSS hybrid polymers have strong potential
for applications in the fabrication of cell culture platforms and
future translation in tissue repair and regeneration.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.