Electrospun Nanofibers for Drug Delivery Applications

Abstract

Electrospinning is a versatile technique to produce nanofibrous materials from various types of materials including biodegradable polymers, natural and synthetic polymers, inorganic materials, blends, and composites. The inherently high surface to volume ratio, porous structure, and nanoscale diameter of nanofibers provide unique properties to the electrospun nanofibrous materials. For instance, bioactive agents such as drugs, antibiotics, anticancer agents, proteins, enzymes, and growth factors can be incorporated into electrospun nanofibers to produce biofunctional nanofibrous materials. The typical electrospun nanofibers are produced in the form of nonwoven having random fiber orientation, yet, these nanofibers can be aligned, or even 3D-structured scaffolds can be electrospun to serve as a better material for bioapplications. There are different methods to produce functional electrospun nanofibers including blend electrospinning, emulsion electrospinning, and coaxial electrospinning. Coaxial electrospinning is an appropriate approach for the encapsulation of proteins to enhance their stability, whereas blend electrospinning and emulsion electrospinning are preferred approach for the purpose of controlled release of bioactive agents. This chapter summarizes an overview of the different approaches on electrospinning techniques to develop nanofibrous scaffolds functionalized with bioactive agents for drug delivery and wound healing applications.