Nanofiber Scaffolds with Complex Architectures

Nonwoven mats of electrospun nanofibers can be further processed into scaffolds with complex architectures such as stacked arrays and tubular conduits. Stacked arrays of electrospun nanofibers are made of multiple layers of fibers that are sequentially deposited on top of one another. The main motivation for developing this type of scaffold is to mimic some natural tissue with respect to its biochemical, structural, and mechanical properties, as well as to enable the formation of multilayered tissues. Tubular conduits made of electrospun nanofibers are usually used for applications in vascular or neural tissue engineering as they resemble the hollow structures of these tissues (see Figure 9.1). Here we only focus on the fabrication methods for these scaffolds with complex architectures. 

Figure 9.4 Scaffolds of electrospun nanofibers with complex structures or architectures. (a) A multi-electrode collector where different pairs of electrodes were grounded sequentially (e.g.. 1/4. 2/5, and then 3/6) to produce a multi-layered scaffold- (b) SEM image of a tri-layered scaffold with the nanofibers in each layer rotated by 120°. (c) Encapsulation of cells in between nonwoven mats of nanofibers by alternating depositions of fibers and cells, (d) fluorescence micrograph showing a construct...

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