Development of three-dimensional piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride-graphene oxide scaffold by non-solvent induced phase separation method for nerve tissue engineering

Abstract

In this work, non-solvent induced phase separation method was applied to develop polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/graphene oxide (GO) scaffold for nerve tissue engineering . Furthermore, the effects of GO concentration (0, 0.5, 1, 3 and 5 wt%) on the electrical, mechanical, physical and biological properties of scaffolds were also evaluated. Results demonstrated that, incorporation of GO nanosheets in the PVDF matrix decreased water contact angle , while enhanced the hydrophilicity , water absorption and water flux of the scaffolds. Moreover, mechanical properties of the nanocomposite scaffolds improved in the presence of GO nanosheets . Significantly, increasing GO content up to 3 wt% enhanced tensile modulus and strength of PVDF scaffold from 8.1 ± 1.4 and 0.8 ± 0.2 MPa to 17.0 ± 3.7 and 1.4 ± 0.4 MPa, respectively. Incorporation of GO nanosheets into the PVDF scaffold simultaneously enhanced β phase fraction, piezoelectricity and electrical conductivity of all nanocomposite scaffolds. Furthermore, PVDF-GO scaffolds significantly promoted cell proliferation , compared to PVDF scaffold, depending on the GO content. Finally, PVDF-GO scaffold could easily be converted in to a nerve guidance conduit with 4 internal longitudinally aligned channels making it appropriate for the nerve regeneration applications.