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. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.