Effect of introduction of tetrabutylammonium bromide on properties of poly (L‐lactic acid) tubular scaffold prepared by electrospinning

Abstract

In this work, poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) tubular scaffold was prepared by adding tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) to the PLLA spinning solution. The effects of the introduction of TBAB on the morphology, crystallisation and mechanical properties of PLLA scaffolds were systematically studied by means of scanning electron microscope, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The results show that the introduction of TBAB improves crystallinity and mechanical property of the PLLA scaffold. As the TBAB content in the spinning solution increases, the mechanical properties of the PLLA tubular scaffold increase first and then decrease. The circumferential tensile strength of the PLLA tubular scaffold prepared by the spinning solution with addition of TBAB were found to increase by up to 323%. The results of DSC and XRD show that the introduction of TBAB can improve the crystallinity of the PLLA fibres. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy test results demonstrate that the chain orientation of the PLLA fibres increases with the TBAB content in the spinning solution and induces the formation of α/α′ crystal phase structure in the PLLA fibres, which is the main reason for the substantial improvement of the mechanical properties of the tubular scaffold.