Super-hydrophilic electrospun nylon-6/hydroxyapatite membrane for bone tissue engineering

The present study was aimed at designing a novel bimodal fiber diameter distributed electrospun hydroxyapatite/nylon-6 (HAp/N6) biocomposite nanofiber mat for bone tissue engineering. The manufacturing of pure N6 fibers and biocomposite fibers was explored by an electrospinning process. The synthesized HAp/N6 composite mats were characterized by XRD, TGA, FE-SEM, EDS, and TEM analyses and water contact angle measurements. The results revealed that fibers of distinct sizes (nano and true-nano scale) were obtained with the addition of a wide range (1–10 wt.%) of HAp. Conversion of pristine hydrophobic N6 fibers (130.3°) to super-hydrophilic (0°) composite fibers by simple blending of different amounts of HAp with N6 solution prior to electrospinning could make N6 more biocompatible for hard tissue engineering. Biomineralization was carried out by immersing the composite into simulated body fluid for different lengths of time. Results showed that the nanocomposite had a better ability to form apatite layers on the surface of the fibers compared to the pristine fibers. Therefore, our results suggest that this newly developed HAp/N6 hybrid scaffold may have potential for bone tissue engineering.