Facile Fabrication of Composite Electrospun Nanofibrous Matrices of Poly(ε-caprolactone)-Silica Based Pickering Emulsion

Functionalized matrices have been sought for their application in sensors, filtration, energy storage, catalysis, and tissue engineering. We report formation of an inorganic-organic composite matrix based on poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) functionalized with hydrophobically modified silica (m-silica) fabricated with reduced organic solvent usage. The matrix was obtained via electrospinning of a water-in-oil emulsion of PCL that was stabilized by judicious choice of m-silica as a Pickering agent resulting into an emulsifier free matrix. Inclusion of m-silica in PCL matrix resulted in enhancing tensile properties and cell proliferation efficiency. The electrospun composite matrix was free from any emulsifier or template polymer; thus any abrupt loss in mechanical properties was prevented when the matrix was subjected to aqueous conditions. The inorganic-organic biodegradable composite matrices thus produced using an emulsifier free emulsion find applications in tissue engineering and may further be evaluated for other areas including selective sorption and separation.