Laser Spinning of Bioactive Glass Nanofibers

The production of nanofibers of bioactive glass by laser spinning is reported The technique yields a great quantity of free-standing fibers in the form of a mesh of disordered intertwined fibers. The method does not rely on chemical processing and does not need any chemical additive. it involves melting of a precursor material with tailored composition, which makes it possible to produce nanofibers from materials with which conventional melt drawing techniques cannot be used. Herein, the production of 45S5 Bioglass nanofibers is reported for the first time. The process is very fast(nanofibers of several centimeters are grown in a fraction of a second), without the necessity of post heat treatments, and no devitrification is observed as a result of the laser-spinning process. The morphology, composition, and structure of the nanofibers are characterized and an assessment of their bioactivity is carried out by immersion in simulated body fluid. This technique provides a method for the rapid production of dense glass nanofibers that can be employed as bioactive nanocomposite reinforcement, as a synthetic bone graft to replace missing bone, or to produce 3D structures for use as scaffolds for bone-tissue engineering.