Summary
Three-dimensional printing and electrospinning are combined here to build multi-layered polymer/glass scaffolds that no single technique could produce. Fibrous mats of polycaprolactone and poly(glycerol sebacate) are electrospun directly onto one side of a 3D-printed structure, giving porosity at two different scales at once: the printed lattice provides large channels and mechanical strength, the fibrous layer the fine architecture cells actually sense. The result releases bioactive compounds, degrades at a controlled rate and remains mechanically robust.
Authors & Affiliations
Linari Electrospinning Systems
Linari electrospinning system, direct deposition
The fibres were spun directly onto the printed structure using a Linari Engineering S.r.l. system (Pisa, Italy) at 8 kV, with the ground electrode fixed to an aluminium support. Depositing straight onto an existing object - rather than onto a collector - is a common industrial use of our systems.