Electrospinning with benign solvents: feasibility study and versatile use of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) fibers

The electrospinning is a well-established technique widely used for the fabrication of fibrous mats for tissue engineering applications. A huge number and varieties of polymers could be processed by the electrospinning technique, but often the use of organic toxic solvents is required. Recently, the introduction of the “Green Electrospinning” concept and the awareness about the disadvantages related to the use of toxic solvents have raised the interest in the use of less or not toxic solvents (benign solvents) for electrospinning. In this framework, the aim of the present work has been the optimization of the electrospinning of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) using acetic acid as solvent. The suitability of this solvent has been tested also for the fabrication of patterned mats and for the fabrication of composite electrospun mats, obtained with the addition of bioactive glass (BG) particles