Electrospun surface functionalization

FIGURE 11.10 Permeation of hMSCs on (a) nonfunctionalized PCL and (b) PCL electrospun fibers functionalized by a 2% solution of PNEAmHi. Cells were allowed to culture for 4 weeks to obsawe cell infiltration. Functionalization promoted cell infiltration from the scaffold surface. Scaffold seeded at 30,000 cells per 1 x 1 cm scaffold. Scale bars=1000pm. 

Kim, T.G. and Park, T.G. 2006. Surface functionalized electrospun biodegradable nanofibers for immobilization of bioactive molecules. BiotedmoL w ll 1108-1113. 

Beachley V, Serpe A, Hepfer RG, Wen XJ. Surface functionalization of electrospun polyurethane scaffolds using blended polymer solutions. J BiomaterTissue Eng 2013 3 472-8. 

In comparison with other nanomaterials, electrospun nanofibers are featured with good continuity, extremely large length-to-diameter ratio, high surface-area-to-volume ratio, and ease of surface functionalization. Meanwhile, multiple extra functions can be incorporated into electrospun nanofibers fo broaden their significances in applications. Because of this, we have found in the open literature that more than 50 polymers have been successfully fabricated into sensors, involving polyamide-6 (PA-6), polyamide-6,6 (PA-6,6), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polyurethane (PU), poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), Ti02, ZnO, cellulose acetate (CA), polyethylene oxide (PEO), polystyrene (PS), poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVdF), etc. (Fig. 11.1). 

Lev et al. have studied chemical methods to counteract nerve agents and remediate organophosphate (OP) contamination by means of nanoparticles, polymers, and nanofibers functionalized by a-nucleophilic agents [38, 39], Fibrous mats functionalized with a-nucleophilic oxime moieties were prepared by either electrospinning blends of polyacrylamidoxime and PAN or surface oximation of prefabricated PAN fibrous mats and demonstrated to possess a pronounced capability to hydrolyze chemical nerve agent simulants in the presence of moisture [39]. The layer-by-layer electrostatic assembly technique offers another strategy for electrospun fiber surface functionalization [40]. For the application in protective fabrics, Lee et al. demonstrated that electrospun fibers used as the substrate for titanium dioxide nanoparticle coatings resulted in increased specific substrate surface areas of about 10 that of the flat film, which enhanced photocatalytic decomposition of toxic industrial chemicals (Fig. 14.4a-c) [41,42]. 

Menkhaus, T.J., Varadaraju, H., Zhang, L., Scchneiderman, S., Bjustrom, S., Liu, L., Fong, H., 2010, Electrospun nanofiber membranes surface functionalized with 3-dimen-sional nanolayers as an innovative adsorption medium with ultra-high capacity and throughout, Chem Commun 46 3720-3722. 

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