In-situ synthesis of magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticle-nanofibre composites using electrospinning

We demonstrate a facile, one-step process to form polymer scaffolds composed of magnetic iron oxide nanopartides (MNPs) contained within electrospun nano- and micro-fibres of two biocompatible polymers, Polyethylene oxide) (PEO) and Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). This was achieved with both needle and free-surface electrospinning systems demonstrating the scalability of the composite fibre manufacture; a 228 fold increase in fibre fabrication was observed for the free-surface system. In all cases the nanoparticle-nanofibre composite scaffolds displayed morphological properties as good as or better than those previously described and fabricated using complex multi-stage techniques. Fibres produced had an average diameter (Needle-spun: 125 +/- 18 nm (PEO) and 1.58 +/- 028 mu m (PVP); Free-surface electrospun: 155 +/- 31 nm (PEO)) similar to that reported previously, were smooth with no bead defects. Nanoparticle-nanofibre composites were characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), dynamic light scattering (DLS) (Nano particle average diameter ranging from 8 +/- 3 nm to 27 +/- 5 nm), XRD (Phase of iron oxide nanoparticles identified as magnetite) and nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation measurements (NMR) (T1/T2: 32.44 for PEO fibres containing MNPs) were used to verify the magnetic behaviour of MNPs. This study represents a significant step forward for production rates of magnetic nanoparticle-nanofibre composite scaffolds by the electrospinning technique. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.