The fabrication of iron oxide nanoparticle-nanofiber composites by electrospinning and their applications in tissue engineering

This paper reviews the use of iron oxide nanoparticle-nanofiber composites in tissue engineering with a focus on the electrospinning technique. Electrospinning is an established method of scaffold fabrication offering a number of key advantages which include its facile nature, with electrospun materials offering a high surface area to volume ratio, potential for the release of drugs and antimicrobials, controllable fiber diameters and high porosity and permeability. A number of different techniques for the preparation of iron oxide nanoparticles including their functionalization are discussed along with their applications in the biomedical field. The review then focusses on the fabrication of nanoparticle-nanofiber composite scaffolds formed using electrospinning. The advantages and disadvantages of current fabrication techniques are discussed including the fabrication of nanofibers using pre-synthesized nanoparticles and post-treatment synthesized nanoparticles. We demonstrate that emerging in-situ synthesis techniques show promise by offering a reduced number of steps and simpler procedures for the production of magnetic scaffolds. These scaffolds have a number of applications in tissue engineering, allowing for improved bone and tissue repair.