| Electrospinning is a processing method which can produce ultrafme fibers with diameters ranging from nanometer to micrometer scales through high electric field. With high specific surface area and high porosity, the three-dimensional membrane composed of electrospun fibers is similar to the natural extracellular matrix. Therefore, it can be used as scaffold in tissue engineering. Poly(s-caprolactone) (PCL) is a kind of degradable polymer which attracts more attention because of its good biocompatibility and innoxious products. It is a potential candidate for tissue engineering scaffold.Firstly, electrospinning technology of PCL was studied by investigating the influence of concentration, voltage and distance between nozzle and collector. The results showed that fiber diameter increases with increasing of concentration of solution and voltage, but decreases with decreasing of distance between nozzle and collector.Secondly, nanofibrous composite membrane composed of PCL and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were prepared by electrospinning. The characters of structure, thermodynamics, mechanical strength, degradation and biocompatibility were studied by weight measurement, SEM, FTIR, XRD, DSC, strength test, degradation test, cytotoxicity analysis, hemolysis percentage measurement and dynamic coagulation time determination. The results showed that the composite membrane possessed low density and high porosity and the morphology of fibers seemed smooth. The low interactivity between PCL and CNTs was characterized. Small amounts of CNTs would increase crystallization of membrane, whereas large amounts of CNTs would decrease crystallization because of bad dispersion. It's shown that the CNTs contents could increase the strength of membrane and degradation. The results showed the composite possesses good biocompatibility and has promising potentials in scaffold applications.
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