Fabrication of 3D Nanofiber Scaffold by Sequential Electrospinning

Abstract

The generation of a 3D porous scaffold that would mimic the native ECM of tissue and organs is a topic of interest in tissue engineering. Electrospinning is a widely used technique in the area because it generates fibers of nano metric diameter with high surface, so several studies have applied it in the creation of 3D scaffolds. This research proposes a new approach that consists on the application of sequential electrospinning cycles over a rotational collector leaving a timespan between each cycle in which all the remaining solvent evaporates and the electro charges on the upper layer are dissipated. It was proved that the thickness of the scaffold increases linearly with each cycle. Additionally, when compared to continuous electrospinning the novel method generates a scaffold which presents almost double the thickness size and a similar porosity. Key Terms - 3D Scaffold, Porous Architecture, Sequential Electospinning, Tissue Engineering.