Abstract
Biodegradable polymeric nanofibers are of great interest as scaffolds for tissue engineering and drug delivery due to their extremely high surface area, high aspect ratio and similarity in structure to the extracellular matrix (ECM). Polyphosphazenes due to their synthetic flexibility, wide range of physico-chemical properties, non-toxic and neutral degradation products and excellent biocompatibility are suitable candidates for biomedical applications. The objective of the present study was to develop and evaluate composite nanofibers of a biodegradable polyphosphazene, poly[bis(ethyl alanato)phosphazene] (PNEA) and nanocrystals of hydroxyapatite (nHAp) via electrospinning. A suspension of nHAp in dimethyl formamide (DMF) sonicated with PNEA solution in tetrahydrofuran (THF) was used to develop composite nanofiber matrices via electrospinning at ambient conditions. In the present study the theoretical loading of nHAp was varied from 50%-90% (w/w) to PNEA. The nHAp content (actual loading of nHAp) of the composite nanofibers was determined by gravimetric estimation. The composite nanofibers were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), gravimetry and energy dispersive X-ray mapping. This study demonstrated the feasibility of developing novel composite nanofibers of biodegradable polyphosphazenes with more than 50% (w/w) loading of nHAp on and within the nanofibers.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | AA4.2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 91-96 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings |
| Volume | 845 |
| State | Published - Jun 20 2005 |
| Event | Nanoscale Materials Science in Biology and Medicine - Boston, MA, United States Duration: Nov 28 2004 → Dec 2 2004 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering