Thermal-Induced Percolation Phenomena and Elasticity of Highly Oriented Electrospun Conductive Nanofibrous Biocomposites for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Highly oriented electrospun conductive nanofibrous biocomposites (CNBs) of polylactic acid (PLA) and polyaniline (PANi) are fabricated using electrospinning. At the percolation threshold (φc), the growth of continuous paths between PANi particles leads to a steep increase in the electrical conductivity of fibers, and the McLachlan equation is fitted to identify φc. Annealing generates additional conductive channels, which lead to higher conductivity for dynamic percolation. For the first time, dynamic percolation is investigated for revealing time-temperature superposition in oriented conductive nanofibrous biocomposites. The crystallinity (χc) displays a linear dependence on annealing temperature within the confined fiber of CNBs. The increase in crystallinity due to annealing also increases the Young’s modulus E of CNBs. The present study outlines a reliable approach to determining the conductivity and elasticity of nanofibers that are highly desirable for a wide range of biological tissue applications.

Understanding the Activation Mechanism of RhCrOx Cocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution with Nanoparticulate Electrodes

“…The reduction of Rh species occurred when the applied E was more negative than 0.03 V RHE , resulting in an increase in the concentration of reduced Rh species and the creation of an electron pathway from the reduced Rh to the FTO conductive substrate. This electron pathway is described as a percolation process. , The reduced Rh species served as catalytic sites for H + adsorption, facilitating electron transfer from the RhNP to produce H 2 molecules. H 2 was rereleased at a potential more negative than 0.0 V RHE .…”

“…This electron pathway is described as a percolation process. 57,58 The reduced Rh species served as catalytic sites for H + adsorption, facilitating electron transfer from the RhNP to produce H 2 molecules. H 2 was rereleased at a potential more negative than 0.0 V RHE .…”

Electrospun Nanofiber-Based Bioinspired Artificial Skins for Healthcare Monitoring and Human-Machine Interaction

“…In general, electrospun polymer solutions require dissolved polymers with a sufficiently high molecular weight and a suitable solvent, because if the molecular weight is not high enough, chain entanglement is limited and electrospinning would generate beads instead of fibers. Among the more than one hundred polymers that for solution electrospinning can be used directly, common polymers include polycaprolactone (PCL) [ 55 ], polylactic acid (PLA) [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ], polyaniline (PANI) [ 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ], polypyrrole (PPy) [ 64 , 65 ], DNA [ 66 ], poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) [ 67 ], Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) [ 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 ], and gelatin are widely used in the manufacturing of biomedical scaffolds [ 78 ]. What is more, synthetic polymers are also often used in electrospinning, such as polystyrene (PS), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are used in areas related to environmental protection and monitoring.…”

Cell–Material Interactions 2022

“…Two manuscripts concentrate on the material side. Munawar and Schubert focus on the processing operations for yielding highly oriented electrospun fibers based on polylactide and polyaniline [ 5 ]. They used thermal-induced percolation to great effect, increasing the conductivity of the fibers as well as Young’s modulus, which may be of relevance, e.g., in cardiac tissue engineering.…”