Piezoelectric conductive electrospun nanocomposite PCL/Polyaniline/Barium Titanate scaffold for tissue engineering applications

Abstract

Recent trends in tissue engineering technology have switched to electrical potentials generated through bioactive scaffolds regarding their appropriate effects on cell behaviors. Preparing a piezo-electrical stimuli scaffold with high electrical conductivity for bone and cartilage tissue regeneration is the ultimate goal of the present study. Here, Barium Titanate nanoparticles (BaTiO3 NPs) were used as piezoelectric material and highly conductive binary doped Polyaniline nanoparticles (PANI NPs) were synthesized by oxidative polymerization. Polycaprolactone (PCL) was applied as carrier substrate polymer and conductive spun nanofibrous scaffolds of PCL/PANI composites were prepared in two different amounts of PANI (3 and 5 wt.%). The conductivity of PCL/PANI nanofibers has been analyzed by standard four probes test. Based on the obtained results, the PCL/PANI5 (with 5 wt.% PANI) was selected due to the superior electrical conductivity of 8.06 × 10–4 s cm - 1. Moreover, the piezoelectric nanofibrous scaffolds of PCL/BT composite were electrospun in three different amounts of BT (20, 30, and 40 wt.%). To investigate the synergic effect of conductive PANI and piezoelectric BT, ternary nanocomposite scaffolds of PCL/PANI/BT were prepared using the dual jet electrospinning technique. The piezoelectric properties have been analyzed by determining the produced voltage. The morphological assessment, contact angle, mechanical test, and MTT assay have been conducted to evaluate other properties including biocompatibility of nanofibrous scaffolds. The PCL/PANI5/BT40 composite resulted in an unprecedented voltage of 1.9 Volt. SEM results confirm that BT NPs have been distributed and embedded inside PCL fibers quite appropriately. Also, the chosen scaffolds were homogeneously intertwined and possessed an average fiber diameter of 288 ± 180 nm, and a contact angle of 92 ± 7°, making it a desirable surface for cell attachment and protein interactions. Moreover, Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile stress, and elongation were obtained as 11 ± 1 MPa, 5 ± 0.6 MPa, and 109 ± 15% respectively. Obtained results assert the novel potential of piezo-electrical stimuli conductive nanocomposite scaffold for tissue engineering applications.

Piezoelectricity performance and β-phase analysis of PVDF composite fibers with BaTiO3 and PZT reinforcement

“…In some articles, it was observed that the reduction of fibers leads to an increase in piezoelectric properties, so that the voltage output from the fibers increased with the reduction of the fiber diameter [ 28 , 29 ]. In research, Shirazi et al [ 30 ] mentioned that the fiber diameter is inversely related to the d33 piezoelectric coefficient, and individual crystallites of 25 nm in diameter exhibited the highest piezoelectric response. This suggests that smaller fiber diameter may lead to better piezoelectric properties.…”

Fabrication of a tailor-made conductive polyaniline/ascorbic acid-coated nanofibrous mat as a conductive and antioxidant cell-free cardiac patch

“…Moreover, it was shown that as the ultimate strength increased the elongation at the break point declined. Previous studies have shown that the blending or coating of PANI can increase Young's modulus and ultimate strength [62][63][64]. For instance, in a study, the tensile strength of pure PCL fibrous mats increased from 2.33 MPa to 3.51 MPa as PANI coated on PCL fibers [62].…”

Recent advances on 3D-printed PCL-based composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

“…CNTs are materials with known chemical, electrical, mechanical, and structural properties, while their combination with PCL improves the electrical conductivity of the resulting composite and induces bone healing ( Peidavosi et al, 2022 ). Carbon nanotubes are often used as imaging agents and carriers of bioactive molecules ( Saito et al, 2008 ; Gonçalves et al, 2016 ; Wesełucha-Birczyńska et al, 2021 ).…”