Fabrication of Core/Shell Nanofibers with Desirable Mechanical and Antibacterial Properties by Pickering Emulsion Electrospinning

Abstract

remarkable features, such as high porosity, large specific area, and interconnected pore structure. As a novel class of nanofibers, core-shell structured nanofibers are composed of two discrete parts, i.e., the inner "core" portion and the outer "shell" layer. Because of being spatially partitioned, the core and the shell can perform their individual functions independently. Core/shell nanofibers offer decisive advantages over monolithic fibers. The multifaceted nature of core/shell structured nanofibers allows for achieving the on-demand properties for drug delivery system and engineered tissue scaffolds. [5] For nanofiberbased scaffolds, the core can provide the favorable environment for the sensitive biocompounds such as growth factors, antibiotics and drugs, whereas the shell can serve as a barrier to prevent the premature release of the water-soluble content in the core, and provide the tailored topography and composition to promote cell adhesion, To endow nanofibers with the desirable antibacterial and mechanical properties, a facile strategy using Pickering emulsion (PE) electrospinning is proposed to prepare functional nanofibers with core/shell structure for the first time. The water-in-oil (W/O) Pickering emulsion stabilized by oleic acid (OA)-coated magnetite iron oxide nanoparticles (OA-MIONs) is comprised of aqueous vancomycin hydrochloride (Van) solution and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) solution. The core/shell structure of the electrospun Van/OA-MIONs-PLA nanofibers is confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy observation. Sustained release of Van from the PE electrospun nanofiber membrane is achieved within the time of 600 h. Compared with the neat PLA electrospun nanofiber membrane, 57% increase of tensile strength and 36% elevation of elongation at break are achieved on PE electrospun nanofiber membrane. In addition, the PE electrospun nanofiber membrane demonstrates excellent antibacterial property stemming from the combinational antibacterial activities of OA-MIONs and Van. The Van-loaded PE electrospinning nanofibers with sustained antibacterial performance possess potential applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery.

Preparation of Cinnamon Oil‐Loaded Antibacterial Composite Microcapsules by In Situ Polymerization of Pickering Emulsion Templates

“…Essential oils are volatile and aromatic oily substances derived from different parts of plant materials such as flowers, barks, emulsions, [28][29][30][31] belonging to surfactant-free emulsions. In Pickering emulsions, solid particles are irreversibly immobilized at the oil-water interface because of their high adsorption energy to suppress the emulsion coalescence, which makes the obtained emulsion highly stable.…”

Biphasic, tough composite core/shell PCL/PVA‐GEL nanofibers for biomedical application

“…Core/shell nanofibers suggest significant advantages over monolithic fibers. Different nature of core/shell structured nanofibers admits the on‐demand features in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and dressing applications …”

Synergistic effect of graphene oxide‐silver nanofillers on engineering performances of polyelectrolyte complex nanofiber membranes

“…Because PEC generally contains two distinctive polyelectrolytes, PEC offers competitive advantages in its physicochemical properties over either one of its constituent polyelectrolytes. When PEC was fabricated into one‐dimensional (1D) or two‐dimensional (2D) nanostructures, that is, nanofibers, such type of PEC system possessed superior properties including high specific area and porosity compared to its counterparts in other forms . Recently, PEC nanofibers have been exploited for potential applications in various fields including nanomedicine, environmental technology and drug delivery .…”

“…In addition, mechanical properties play a vital role in the durability and compliance of PEC nanofiber membranes/scaffolds for long‐term biomedical applications in vivo . As such, satisfactory mechanical performance of nanofiber based biomaterial scaffolds are indispensable to the success of tissue regeneration by providing an favorable microenvironment for cell adhesion, proliferation, migration and differentiation . Due to high porosity and weak inter‐fiber cohesion, PEC nanofiber membranes usually do not meet the basic requirements in the mechanical properties for in vivo implementation .…”

“…When PEC was fabricated into onedimensional (1D) or two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures, that is, nanofibers, such type of PEC system possessed superior properties including high specific area and porosity compared to its counterparts in other forms. [2][3][4] Recently, PEC nanofibers have been exploited for potential applications in various fields including nanomedicine, environmental technology and drug delivery. 2 For instance, Jiang et al fabricated chitosan/sodium alginate PEC nanofiber membranes as biomaterial scaffolds for potential tissue engineering applications.…”