Title
Poly(Hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) porous matrices from thermally induced phase separation
Date Issued
01 December 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Publisher(s)
MDPI AG
Abstract
Thermally induced phase separation followed by freeze drying has been used to prepare biodegradable and biocompatible scaffolds with interconnected 3D microporous structures from poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) copolymers containing 5 and 12 wt % of 3-hydroxyvalerate (HV). Solutions of PHBV in 1,4-dioxane, underwent phase separation by cooling under two different thermal gradients (at −25◦ C and −5◦ C). The cloud point and crystallization temperature of the polymer solutions were determined by turbidimetry and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. Parameters affecting the phase separation mechanism such as variation of both the cooling process and the composition of the PHBV copolymer were investigated. Afterwards, the influence of these variables on the morphology of the porous structure and the final mechanical properties (i.e., rigidity and damping) was evaluated via scanning electron microscopy and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, respectively. While the morphology of the scaffolds was considerably affected by polymer crystallization upon a slow cooling rate, the effect of solvent crystallization was more evident at either high hydroxyvalerate content (i.e., 12 wt % of HV) or high cooling rate. The decrease in the HV content gave rise to scaffolds with greater stiffness because of their higher degree of crystallinity, being also noticeable the greater consistency of the structure attained when the cooling rate was higher. Scaffolds were fully biocompatible supports for cell adhesion and proliferation in 3D cultures and show potential application as a tool for tissue regeneration.
Start page
1
End page
18
Volume
12
Issue
12
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería química
Ciencia de los polímeros
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85096782705
Source
Polymers
ISSN of the container
20734360
Sponsor(s)
Funding: This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the Project RTI2018-101827-B-I00 and the Generalitat de Catalunya for the grant 2017SGR373.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus