Fabrication of porous scaffolds using NaHCO3 particulates as the porogen material

A new method of fabricating porous polymer scaffolds was developed, using sodium hydrogen carbonate particulates as the porogen to foam. The pore structure of polymer scaffolds can easily be manipulated by controlling the size and weight fraction of sodium hydrogen carbonate particulates. The scaffolds are highly porous with a porosity greater than 90% and with a larger pore size ranging from 100-400 mu m, and are well distributed with the interconnected and open pore wall structure which is necessary for tissue engineering. We investigated the effect of the porosity of scaffolds, the pore size of scaffolds and material of polymer on the mechanical properties of scaffolds. The scaffolds fabricated by the method have more big pores than those by the convenient method of salt leaching.