Poly(vinylidene fluoride) and copolymers as porous membranes for tissue engineering applications

Abstract

a b s t r a c tPoly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its main copolymers -poly(vinylidene fluoride-cohexafluoropropene), P(VDF-HFP), and poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene), P(VDF-TrFE) -were processed by solvent casting at room temperature in the form of porous membranes. Copolymer membranes showed higher degree of porosity than PVDF, the average pore size being larger for P(VDF-TrFE) than for P(VDF-HFP) and PVDF. All membranes show high hydrophobicity with water contact angles in the range 94 to 115 , and electroactive beta phase contents above 90%. The adhesion and proliferation of both C2C12 myoblast and MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells on the membranes were investigated. It is demonstrated that PVDF membranes promote higher cell proliferation while P(VDF-HFP) membranes show the lowest proliferation for both kinds of cell. The proliferation on P(VDF-TrFE) membranes is cell dependent, higher for MC3T3-E1 cells but lower for C2C12 cells, related to the effect of the highly porous structure on the preferred morphology of each cell type, as the higher pore size and porosity of the P(VDF-TrFE) membrane induce cell elongation, which is preferred just by the C2C12 muscle cells.

Strategies for the development of three dimensional scaffolds from piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride)

“…After solvent removal, the PVA template was extracted by washing repeatedly with deionized water at room temperature, as described above. A neat porous PVDF membrane (10 % w/v in DMF) prepared via solvent casting [37] method was used to compare with the tridimensional structures.…”

Designing electrospun nanocomposite poly(vinylidene fluoride) mats with tunable wettability

“…FTIR is a common technique for the identification of the crystal phases co-existing in a PVDF sample [22,[24][25][26][27]29,56]. Each crystal phase absorbs infrared radiation at its own specific wavelengths, therefore the analysis of the infrared spectrum can easily reveal the structural characteristics of PVDF.…”

“…Removal of the background signal of alumina didn't give clear and satisfactory results. The absorbance peaks of PVDF in this region can be used for the calculation of the relative amount of each phase [25][26][27][28][29]56]. However, such calculation was not possible here owing to the effect of Al 2 O 3 .…”

“…PVDF exhibits five different types of crystal structure, namely α, β, γ, δ and ε, each one having different characteristics [25][26][27][28][29][30]. The macromolecules in the α-phase have alternating trans and gauche configuration (TGTG'), thus they are non-polar [25][26][27]29].…”

“…The macromolecules in the α-phase have alternating trans and gauche configuration (TGTG'), thus they are non-polar [25][26][27]29]. In contrast, β-phase has all-trans (TTTT) planar zigzag configuration which creates a permanent dipole [25][26][27][28][29]. Therefore, β-phase has the most pronounced piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties and it is the desired phase that PVDF should have for utilization in relevant applications.…”