Fabrication and characterization of thermoplastic polyurethane/collagen blend nanofiber by electrospinning method

Electrospinning is a new method used in Tissue Engineering field. It can spin fibers in nanoscale by electrostatic force. A serious of thermoplastic polyurethane(TPU)/collagen blend nanofibrous membranes were prepared with different weight ratio and concentration via electrospinning. The two biopolymer were all used 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) as solvent. The morphology and diameter of electrospun nanofibers were investigated using scanning electron microscope(SEM) method. We found that fiber diameter was influenced by both polymer concentration and blend weight ratio of collagen to TPU. The average diameter of nanofibers gradually decreases with increasing collagen content in the blend. We have also characterized the molecular interactions in TPU/collagen complex by fourier transform (FTIR). The result could demonstrate that if there were intermolecular bonds between the molecules of TPU and collagen. The blend nanofibers are designed to mimic the native extracellular matrix for tissue engineering and develop functional biomaterials.