Abstract
The present study outlines a reliable approach to determining the electrical conductivity and elasticity of highly oriented electrospun conductive nanofibers of biopolymers. The highly oriented conductive fibers are fabricated by blending a high molar mass polyethylene oxide (PEO), polycaprolactone (PCL), and polylactic acid (PLA) with polyaniline (PANi) filler. The filler-matrix interaction and molar mass (M) of host polymer are among governing factors for variable fiber diameter. The conductivity as a function of filler fraction (φ) is shown and described using a McLachlan equation to reveal the electrical percolation thresholds (φc) of the nanofibers. The molar mass of biopolymer, storage time, and annealing temperature are significant factors for φc. The Young’s modulus (E) of conductive fibers is dependent on filler fraction, molar mass, and post-annealing process. The combination of high orientation, tunable diameter, tunable conductivity, tunable elasticity, and biodegradability makes the presented nanofibers superior to the fibers described in previous literature and highly desirable for various biomedical and technical applications.
Highlights
The highly oriented conductive fibers are fabricated by blending a high molar mass polyethylene oxide (PEO), polycaprolactone (PCL), and polylactic acid (PLA) with polyaniline (PANi) filler
A detailed study was conducted for determining the electrical percolation threshold of highly oriented electrospun conductive fibers in our recent article [51]
The highly oriented electrospun conductive fiber composites (ECFCs) of PEO, PCL, and PLA blended with doped PANi were fabricated using an electrospinning process
Summary
The orientation, diameter, electrical conductivity, and mechanical strength (elasticity/stiffness) are among the most significant characteristics of electrospun fibers for reliable usage in various biomedical applications: cardiac tissue [1,2,3,4,5,6,7], muscle tissue [8,9,10], nerve tissue [11,12,13,14,15], bone tissue [16,17], wound healing [18,19], etc., and technical applications and wearable electrical devices [20,21], brain-machine interface [22], biomedical devices [23,24], field-effect transistors (FET) [25], biosensors [26,27,28] and electrodes [29,30,31]. Physical, biochemical, and mechanical stimulations affect cell-material interactions potentially to guarantee the required regeneration [45] Tissue properties, such as stiffness and biosignals, determine cellular activity, including adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, and growth. The electrical percolation threshold is the critical volume fraction (φc) of conductive filler in electrospun conductive fiber composites (ECFCs) at which the electrical conductivity increases by several orders of magnitude. A detailed study was conducted for determining the electrical percolation threshold of highly oriented electrospun conductive fibers in our recent article [51]. The highly oriented electrospun conductive fiber composites (ECFCs) of PEO, PCL, and PLA blended with doped PANi were fabricated using an electrospinning process. The fiber-diameter (D) range of our highly oriented conductive fibers is approximately 50 nm < D < 5000 nm, making them desirable for various applications
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