Preparation of a thin silica nonwoven fabric composed of nanofibers and micropores by electrospinning after controlled hydrolysis in a sol-gel reaction

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Ceramics are recognized as highly suitable materials for creating guided bone regeneration (GBR) barrier membranes due to their bioresorbable and osteoconductive properties. However, techniques have not been fully developed for the production of ceramic membranes with the appropriate fiber thickness and pore size. In this study, a thin silica nonwoven fabric with pores smaller than cells, achieved by nanofiber technology, was prepared by electrospinning, and its potential as a GBR barrier membrane was explored. In addition, efforts were made to elucidate the nanoscale fiber formation mechanism through molecular dynamics-based geometric optimization using solid-state 29Si-NMR data. As a result, a thin silica nonwoven fabric composed of nanofibers and micropores was prepared by electrospinning a silica gel prepared by lowering the TEOS-to-water ratio during the sol-gel reaction. Insufficient water addition during the sol-gel reaction caused a decrease in the number of siloxane bonds, resulting in a linear growth behavior of the silica molecules instead of the original network growth behavior. This led to a decrease in fiber thickness, which in turn caused a decrease in pore size. The thin silica nonwoven fabric showed exceptional performance in the cell occlusion ability test, suggesting its strong potential as a GBR barrier membrane.