Abstract
Electrospinning is a well-known, straightforward, and versatile technique, widely used for the preparation of fibers by electrifying a polymer solution. However, a high molecular weight is not essential for obtaining uniform electrospun fibers; in fact, the primary criterion to succeed is the presence of sufficient intermolecular interactions, which function similar to chain entanglements. Some small molecules able to self-assemble have been electrospun from solution into fibers and, among them, peptides containing both natural and non-natural amino acids are of particular relevance. Nowadays, the use of peptides for this purpose is at an early stage, but it is gaining more and more interest, and we are now witnessing the transition from basic research towards applications. Considering the novelty in the relevant processing, the aim of this review is to analyze the state of the art from the early 2000s on. Moreover, advantages and drawbacks in using peptides as the main or sole component for generating electrospun nanofibers will be discussed. Characterization techniques that are specifically targeted to the produced peptide fibers are presented.
Highlights
The development of biomaterials to improve human life is one of the hottest topics in materials science
A non-natural amino acid or a synthetic scaffold can be inserted in the peptide backbone, forming a peptidomimetic, a molecule that possesses the features of the target peptide and stability against proteases [64,65,66,67,68]
Synthetic model polypeptides, i.e., polycationic PLO and PLEY, were electrospun and the obtained mats were studied by circular dichroism (CD) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and the fiber composition was analyzed with X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) [74]
Summary
The development of biomaterials to improve human life is one of the hottest topics in materials science. There has been considerable interest in nanofiber films and nanofiber mats, produced by the electrospinning technique, a well-known process to tune (nano)fiber diameters (from nanometers to micrometers) [3]. The use of poly- [21] and oligo-peptides [22,23,24,25,26] in electrospinning has been reported, focusing on applications in superhydrophobic surface development and rigid scaffolds for tissue engineering. Moving the electrospinning technique from proteins or synthetic polymers to pure (poly-)peptides holds tremendous promises in life sciences, but it can produce materials which can be utilized beyond biological applications, directed for important purposes in fields as diverse as energy [28] and environmental aspects [29].
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