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Updated: Oct 14, 2025
Expansion of Two-dimension Electrospun Nanofiber Mats into Three-dimension Scaffolds
Published on: January 7, 2019
Fabrication and characterization of 3-dimensional electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol)/keratin/chitosan nanofibrous
Mohammad Tajul Islam1, Raechel M Laing2, Cheryl A Wilson2
1Centre for Materials Science and Technology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand; Department of Textile Engineering, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Abstract:
Layer-by-layer three-dimensional nanofibrous scaffolds (3DENS) were produced using the electrospinning technique. Interest in using biopolymers and application of electrospinning fabrication techniques to construct nanofibers for biomedical application has led to the development of scaffolds composed of PVA, keratin, and chitosan. To date, PVA/keratin blended nanofibers and PVA/chitosan blended nanofibers have been fabricated and studied for biomedical applications. Electrospun scaffolds comprised of keratin and chitosan have not yet been reported in published literature, thus a novel nanofibrous PVA/keratin/chitosan scaffold was fabricated by electrospinning. The resulting 3DENS were characterized using fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning colorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Physiochemical properties of the polymer solutions such as viscosity (rheology) and conductivity were also investigated. The 3DENS possess a relatively uniform fibrous structure, suitable porosity, swelling properties, and degradation which are affected by the mass ratio of keratin, and chitosan to PVA. These results demonstrate that PVA/keratin/chitosan 3DENS have the potential for biomedical applications.
