Fabrication of Nanocomposite Foam by Supercritical CO2 Technique For Application in Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Introduction: Microcellular foams are produced through polymer saturation by supercritical CO2, then heating the sample at a temperature higher than the Tg of polymer/gas mixture after the pressure drop. Objective: In this research, the polyethersulfone/graphene oxide nano-composite was initially made. Then the nanocomposite foamed with supercritical CO2. Material and Methods: The study on the effect of nucleation by carbonated nano-sheets is a relatively new topic. Polymeric foams particularly have proper dimensional stability. By changing the variables, the internal structure of the foam can be controlled. Due to the uniformization of energy distribution areas, the nucleating agent creates more uniform pores, higher porosity percentage, resulting in pores with a smaller diameter. Result: In this study, the nanoparticles of GO were used as the heterogeneous nucleating agent in the foaming process. Also, the effect of foaming temperature, foaming pressure, foaming time and presence of nucleation agent were investigated. Adding 0.8% of GO reduces the average diameter of the PES foam cells from 6.99 to 3.7 μm. Besides, the increase of 40 °C foaming temperature (160 °C to 200 °C) also increases the diameter of the average cell from 3.14 to 7.2 μm. Conclusion: The toxicity tests indicated that the product is non-toxic and can be used as a scaffold in the body of living creatures.