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Nanofibrosis of uncrystallizable poly(lactide‐ co ‐glycolide) via phase separation
Author(s) -
Yang Xiao Ping,
Li Xiao Li,
Zhang Lei,
Yang Qiao Fu,
Cai Qing,
Deng Xu Liang
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.1608
Subject(s) - materials science , plga , tetrahydrofuran , electrospinning , nanofiber , chemical engineering , solvent , lactide , polymer chemistry , amorphous solid , copolymer , phase (matter) , polymer , extraction (chemistry) , composite material , organic chemistry , nanotechnology , chemistry , nanoparticle , engineering
Poly(lactide‐ co ‐glycolide) (PLGA) copolymers are a kind of biocompatible and biodegradable materials being widely used in tissue engineering. However, phase separation had not been reported successfully in fabricating these amorphous polymers into nanofibrous matrix, although this technique had shown advantages over electrospinning in producing a nanofiber network. In this study, tetrahydrofuran (THF)/H 2 O solvent pairs were found suitable solvents to induce the formation of uniform PLGA gel at selected gelation temperatures. The results indicated that fine nanofibrous structures with fiber diameter around 40–60 nm could be obtained following the steps of gel formation, solvent extraction, and freeze‐drying, by controlling the concentration of PLGA/THF/H 2 O solution, THF/H 2 O ratio, and gelation temperature. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.