Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 13.1. Comparison of Processing Techniques for the Synthesis of Nanofi bers
Features
Self assembly
Phase separation
Electrospinning
Ease of processing
No
Yes
Yes
Control on fi ber
diameter
No
No
Yes
Easy scale up
No
No
Yes
Advantages
•
It can be
performed
without the
use of any
harmful organic
solvents.
•
Simple
technique.
•
Not equipment
intensive.
•
Highly porous
scaffold with
control over
its mechanical
properties.
•
Batch - to - batch
consistency.
•
One step technique.
•
Simple set -
up, hence cost
effective.
•
Can be modulated
to control fi ber
diameter and
alignment.
•
High porosity
scaffold with
interconnected
pores.
•
Highly versatile in
terms of variety of
polymers.
Disadvantages
•
Relatively
complex.
•
Low
productivity.
•
Limited to a few
polymers only.
•
No control over
the internal
architecture.
•
Scaffolds have a
miniscule three-
dimensional profi le.
•
Small pore size.
•
Use of high
concentrations of
organic solvent.
engineering requirements. In addition, the nanofi brous scaffolds generated by
electrospinning have high porosities with interconnected pores [100]. Inspite of
these advantages, nanofi bers produced by conventional electrospinning are in the
form of a non woven mesh with limited 3D profi les. Further, although porosities
obtained can be large, the pore sizes obtained are relatively small when compared
to matrix produced by other techniques. Table 13.1 provides a comparative analy-
sis of the three techniques self assembly, phase separation, and electrospinning
that have been discussed in this section.
Electrospinning has shown great potential in the fi eld of biomedical sciences.
Electrospun nanofi bers have been used for the synthesis of scaffolds that have
been applied for the engineering of multiple tissues such as cartilage, bone, muscle,
ligament, nerve, skin and vasculature [88,92,101-105].
Further, these fi bers have also been used for controlled delivery of drugs,
proteins and nucleic acids [82,106,107]. Other areas of application include sensor
devices [108] , fi ltration [109], protective clothing [110], and electrical conductors
[111] (Figure 13.7). Although there are number of applications of electrospun
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