Development of PVDF micro and nanostructures for cell culture studies

Tissue engineering aims at repairing damaged tissues and recovering the lost or degraded biological functions with artificial scaffolds. In order to meet the requirement for more complex functionality such as peripheral nerve reconstruction, new types of scaffold materials are needed. In this work, we developed several microand nanofabrication techniques to pattern polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a highly non-reactive, piezoelectric, thermoplastic fluoropolymer, which can serve as new constituents for advanced tissue engineering. We first studied the feasibility of PVDF patterning using conventional photolithography, soft lithography and microcontact printing. The fabricated patterns were systematically characterized by surface analysis techniques (FTIR, XRD) and used for cell culture studies. Then, we developed a study on electrospinning of PVDF nanofibers. Our results showed that the fabricated PVDF nanofibers were compatible with cell-based assays. Finally, we doped electrospun PVDF nanofibers with magnetic nanoparticles, which should make them excitable with a remote magnetic field.