In this study, the physical properties and the biocompatibility of electrospun silicone-modified polyurethane (PUSX) nanofibers were discussed and compared with PUSX films. To investigate the effects of different structures on the physical properties, tensile strength, elongation at break, Young’s modulus, water retention, water contact angle (WCA) and thermal conductivity measurements were performed. To prove the in vitro biocompatibility of the materials, cell adhesion, cell proliferation, and cytotoxicity were studied by NIH3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts cells following by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) analysis. As a conclusion, the mechanical properties, water retention, and WCA were proven to be able to be controlled and improved by adjusting the structure of PUSX. A higher hydrophobicity and lower thermal conductivity were found in PUSX nanofibers compared with polyurethane (PU) nanofibers and films. An in vitro biocompatibility evaluation shows that the cell proliferation can be performed on both PUSX nanofibers and films. However, within a short period, cells prefer to attach and entangle on PUSX nanofibers rather than PUSX films. PUSX nanofibers were proven to be a nontoxic alternative for PU nano-membranes or films in the biomedical field, because of the controllable physical properties and the biocompatibility.

Silicone modified polyurethane (PUSX) has attracted interest as a useful material by various properties, which are combined with silicone and polyurethane. In this paper, we tried to optimize the electrospinning process of silicone modified polyurethane (PUSX) nanofibers on a lab scale device and a multinozzle pilot scale set-up to investigate the potential and limitations of preparing PUSX nanofibrous sheets using different equipment. The morphology and diameter of the obtained fibers were studied via scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) was also carried out to analyze the chemical structure of PUSX nanofibers. As a result, we successfully figured out the optimal parameters of PUSX electrospinning process and demonstrated the great potential of the process for mass production of PUSX nanofibrous sheets from solutions.