Title
Hybrid nanofibers from biodegradable polylactide and polythiophene for scaffolds
Date Issued
01 January 2014
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Publisher(s)
Royal Society of Chemistry
Abstract
Hybrid scaffolds constituted of polylactide (PLA) as a biodegradable polymer and poly(3-thiophene methyl acetate) (P3TMA) as an electroactive polymer were prepared and studied. Both polymers had a similar solubility and consequently could be easily electrospun using a common solvent. Electrospinning operational parameters were optimized to get continuous micro/nanofibers with a homogeneous diameter that ranged between 600 and 900 nm depending on the PLA-P3TMA ratio. Electrospinning was only effective when the P3TMA content was at maximum 50 wt%. The incorporation of P3TMA slightly decreased the fibre diameter, led to smoother fibre surfaces and gave rise to some heterogeneous clusters inside the fibers. PLA was highly oriented inside the electrospun fibers and able to easily cold crystallize by heating. Thermal degradation was not highly influenced by the presence of P3TMA, although the onset temperature slightly increased since the first decomposition step of PLA was prevented. New scaffolds had promising electrochemical properties and even provided a good substrate for cell adhesion and cell proliferation. Therefore, these hybrid materials are suitable to improve the cellular response towards physiological processes. © the Partner Organisations 2014.
Start page
15245
End page
15255
Volume
4
Issue
29
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería química
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84897135780
Source
RSC Advances
ISSN of the container
20462069
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus