Conducive 3D porous mesh of poly(ε-caprolactone) made via emulsion electrospinning

Abstract

Use of Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) as 3D porous scaffold, fibers and matrices has proved importance of this polymer in applications for tissue engineering besides others. Here we present an approach to generate uneven surfaced meshes of PCL via emulsion electrospinning with minimal use of organic solvent. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was used as template polymer providing stability and alignment to PCL phase during electrospinning of oil-in-water emulsion of PCL. The emulsion properties including particle size, inter-particle distance and viscosity depended on the concentrations of PCL and PVA. Higher PVA content led to formation of smaller oil phase particles resulting into higher viscosity of the emulsion while a higher PCL content led to the formation of larger oil phase particles and correspondingly lower viscosity of the emulsion. A correlation between particle size of emulsion and diameter of the fibers obtained after electrospinning was found. The composite meshes of PCL-PVA obtained via emulsion electrospinning were washed with water to generate uneven surface on the meshes which was found to be highly favorable for cell growth in comparison to a uniform mesh of PCL made via solution electrospinning.