Fabrication of porous electrospun nanofibres

Abstract

Immiscible biopolymers of gelatin (Gt) and polycaprolactone (PCL) were first electrospun into a biomimicking composite fibre of Gt/PCL. Based on a phase separation study of the electrospun fibres, a leaching method was employed to generate 3D porous nanofibres by selectively removing the water soluble component of gelatin in a 37 °C aqueous solution of phosphate buffered saline. It was found that leaching treatment gave rise to a unique nanotopography containing grooves, ridges and elliptical pores on the surface as well as inside of the resultant individual nanofibres. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) area measurement indicated that the formed 3D porous fibres also brought in a pronounced increase of the surface area of fibres. The BET surface area of the porous fibres was observed to be about 2.4 times that of the precursor fibres, up to 15.84 m2 g−1 at its relatively large size of 800 nm diameter. The 3D porous fibres herein prepared could have considerable value for uses in developing highly integrated cell–scaffold tissue complexes and other industrial applications.

Investigation on glassy skin formation of porous polystyrene fibers electrospun from DMF

“…A nonwoven fiber mat having a high surface area to volume ratio on the order of 1-100 m 2 /g is achieved by electrospinning, which offers numerous existing and potential applications in filtration [3], catalysis [4,5], and tissue engineering [6]. The surface area of the mats can be further enlarged when surface and/or interior porosity is developed within the electrospun filaments [7,8]. Two main approaches have been employed to produce porosity in the fibers.…”

Nanomembrane Materials Based on Polymer Blends

“…Porous polymer materials have recently become of immense interest to study arena in the development of new materials, because of their potential for applications in fuel cell membranes, chemical filtration, tissue engineering, adsorbents, catalysis, sensors, separations, electrochemical cells, storage and drug delivery, etc. [91][92][93][94].…”

Next Generation of Electrosprayed Fibers for Tissue Regeneration

“…[76][77][78][79] Using this concept, extensive work on generating scaffolds from blends of natural and synthetic polymers [80][81][82][83] and other crystalline components has been performed. 84 After selecting suitable solvents, different polymers have been blended to control the mechanical and biological nature of the porous 24,88 ; for example, reduced pore size restricts cells and other particulates from infiltrating into the sub-layers accessing the 3D space.…”