Abstract
The aim of the work was to compare the degradation behavior of electrospun nanofibres obtained from pure poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and modified with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in aqueous environment. The nanofibres in the form of mats were manufactured using the electrospinning technique (ES) with potential biomedical application. To investigate the degradation behavior, one-component and composite (containing CNTs) nanofibres were compared using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), water contact angle measurements, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and mechanical testing. The changes in their morphology, structure, and selected physical and mechanical properties during incubation up to 14 days were analysed. Two types of CNTs differing in concentration of surface functional groups were used to modify the PLA nanofibres. PLA and composite nanofibres (PLA + CNT) during incubation underwent swelling and partial degradation due to the penetration of water into polymer matrix. Changes in the mechanical properties of composite mats were higher than those observed for pure PLA mats. After 14-day incubation, samples retained from 47 to 78% of their initial tensile strength, higher for PLA samples. Morphological changes in pure PLA nanofibres were more dynamic than in composite nanofibres. No significant changes in crystallinity, wettability, and porosity of the samples occurred.
Highlights
Electrospinning is a versatile method of obtaining fibrous structures for the wide scope of applications, including analytical chemistry, environmental protection, or medicine [1,2,3]
(2) Wettability study of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) mats indicated that pure PLA mats have water contact angles typical for hydrophobic materials, that is, about 113∘
(3) Tensile strength for composite nonwovens containing 1% wt. f-carbon nanotubes (CNTs) increased from 10.6 MPa up to 16 MPa while tensile modulus increased from 686 MPa to 1050 MPa; this improvement is due to good dispersion of functionalised CNTs within PLA suspension
Summary
Electrospinning is a versatile method of obtaining fibrous structures for the wide scope of applications, including analytical chemistry, environmental protection, or medicine [1,2,3]. Considering the similarities between the fibres obtained via ES and the extracellular matrix (ECM), structures acquired by ES technique provide promising materials for tissue engineering scaffolds, to regenerate bone [19,20,21], cartilage [22,23,24], or neural tissue [25,26,27]. For these reasons fibrous structures are widely investigated to elaborate scaffolds to regenerate bone tissue, in the case of small bone defects occurred from illnesses, injuries, or tumour resections [21]
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