Synthesis and Evaluation of PVA-Silica Electrospun Nanofibers for Orthopedic Application

Abstract

Silica has been used over the years for biomedical applications due to its excellent bioactivity compared to other ceramics used for bone regeneration. Considering other methods in the preparation of silica, the sol-gel method is preferred since it allows the formation of highly pure products with desired properties. Polyvinyl alcohol which has many desirable biomedical applications was incorporated with silica to electro-spun into a nanofibrous sheet which can be used in orthopaedic applications. Higher the porosity of the sample, greater the water absorption capacity. XRD and FTIR spectra were analysed and the results proved the incorporation of silica into electro spun PVA network. SEM analysis and histogram proved the nanofibrous formation since all the samples had a diameter within the range of 150-350 nm. The Biological studies such as haemocompatibility assay proved the samples to be haemocompatible since the samples had the haemolytic ratio below 5. Degradation analysis of the samples proved that PVA-silica electro-spun sheets could be used as scaffolds since they showed excellent degradation rates with respect to time. Cytotoxicity assay provided cell viability >96% for all the concentrations.