Electrospinning
Nanofibrous
Materials for Tissue Engineering and Water Remediation
The
tissue engineering has been a dynamic field in which sustainable material
development can be focused to ease the demand for various applications such as
sutures, scaffolds, meshes. The material scientists have progressive approach
to develop sustainable and commercially viable materials. Our group mainly
deals with biodegradable polymers specifically aliphatic polyester to produce
innovative materials. The goal of the group is to find various approaches to
produce scaffolds with minimum use of hazardous solvents. This vision has been
made realistic using emulsion of oil-in-water and water-in-oil types. The
nanofibrous materials has been developed by simple nanofabrication technique
i.e. electrospinning. The nanofibrous structure mimics extracellular matrices
to support for cell seeding and its growth. The efforts put by our team since
2011 to develop biocompatible scaffolds with high surface to volume ratio which
can be beneficial for various tissue engineering applications with minimal use
of organic solvents with maximizing the polymer content.
Templated
Emulsion Electrospun Matrices
Emulsion
electrospinning proves to be eco-friendly as it demands minimal use of organic
solvents in which maximum quantity of biodegradable polyester can be dissolved
and subsequently electrospun with the help of any templated polymer such as
PVA, PVP in aqueous medium. The extensive practical and theoretical study on
emulsion behavior and its effect on electrospun matrices by our team
enlightened the need of such technique in the field.
Composite Electrospun Matrices
The functionality and strength of electrospun
matrices are important features when it subjects to various in-vitro and
in-vivo operations. These two features can be enhanced with the use of some
nanoparticle embedded within the matrices which supports cell proliferation and
growth. Our team continuously working on such materials and checked its
viability. In recent years, various composite electrospun matrices are produced
using Pickering emulsion electrospinning. The use of surfactant during emulsion
preparation is totally replaced with nanoparticles of various nature such as
silica, hydroxyapatite, nano silver, clays, nanographene oxides which stabilize
the emulsion. The issue related with surfactant during cell growth has been
resolved with the use of such composite electrospun matrices which provides
extra functionalities and better physical properties.
World Health
Organization (WHO) stated that around 80% of diseases are caused by
contaminated water in human lifestyle. Specifically, in India, 70% of total
potable water is contaminated either with natural pollutants or synthetic
particles. To improve Water Quality Index (WQI) of our country, governments
continuously taking necessary actions through various policies. As a research
team from reputed Indian institute i.e. IIT Delhi, we have been started working
on this global issue of water contamination. To design the affordable
filtration system for removing hazardous chemical such as heavy metal ions, colored
substances, oil contamination from water, the electrospun nanofibrous matrices
based on crosslinked polystyrene is used. To keep sustainability in mind, our
group developed process to fabricate such matrices directly from its monomeric
form through near-gel resin electrospinning.
(10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b03870) These matrices proved excellent
stability against oil contamination like petrol and other organic solvents with
better absorption capacity. In next some stages, we are focusing on
functionalization of these matrices which can help to improve filtration
efficiency, durability and cycles of repeating use.