Preparation and Characterization of Aligned and Random Nanofibrous Nanocomposite Scaffolds of Poly (Vinyl Alcohol), Poly (e-Caprolactone) and Nanohydroxyapatite

Abstract

Nanofibrous scaffolds produced by electrospinning have attracted much attention, recently. Aligned and random nanofibrous scaffolds of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and nanohydroxyapatite (nHA) were fabricated by electrospinning method in this study. The composite nanofibrous scaffolds were subjected to detailed analysis. Morphological investigations revealed that the prepared nanofibers have uniform morphology and the average fiber diameters of aligned and random scaffolds were 135.5 and 290 nm, respectively. The obtained scaffolds have a porous structure with porosity of 88 and 76 % for random and aligned nanofibers, respectively. Furthermore, FTIR analysis demonstrated that there were strong intramolecular interactions between the molecules of PVA/PCL/nHA. On the other hand, mechanical characterizations show that aligning the nanofibers, could significantly improve the rigidity of the resultant biocomposite nanofibrous scaffolds. The results indicate that aligned scaffolds are suitable for tissue engineering applications.