Synthesis and Characterization of Electrospun Bioactive Glass FibersScaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering

Over the past decades, bioactive glass (BG) has been of a great interest in the bone regenerationfield, due to its excellent biocompatibility, bioactivity and osteoconductivity. Herein, fabricationof bioactive glass as one-dimensional fibers by employing an Electrospinning process is reported.The Sol-Gel method was chosen considering the final fibers smoothness and homogeneity. Startingsol was prepared by mixing Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), Triethyl phosphate (TEP) andCalcium Nitrate as precursors in an adequate solvent. Fibers were obtained via Electrospinning themixture of different ratios of BG and polymer solutions. Biocompatible Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)was used in order to investigate the polymer effect. Furthermore, Electrospinning parameters suchas voltage and working distance were examined. Following the heat treatment anddepolymerization, X-ray diffractometery (XRD) was done. Besides, fibers morphology before andafter calcination was observed in detail employing Optical Microscopy and Field EmissionScanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). XRD patterns revealed the presence of bioactive glass.Results indicated that the fibers diameter and homogeneity were reduced after calcination showingan intensification as polymer increased.

Keywords:

Fibers , Bioactive Glass , Electrospinning , Bone Tissue Engineering