Rheological and electrical behavior of core–shell conduit comprising PCL-chitosan-gelatin/Al₂O₃ nanofibers and gellan-agar/poly aniline-graphene

Abstract

In the field of neural regeneration, a channel guidance conduit with the potential of self-electrical stimuli would be considered a suitable candidate. In this study, the core–shell conduit structure composed of PCL-chitosan-gelatin-Al₂O₃ (shell) and gellan-agar-polyaniline-graphene (core) was fabricated. For nanofiber fabrication, the co-electrospinning technique was utilized and in-situ chemical oxidative polymerization was the method of polyaniline-graphene synthesis. The morphology, chemical, and structural behavior of electrospun nanofibers were characterized using SEM, EDX, FTIR and XRD. Polyaniline-graphene nanocomposite properties were studied with FTIR and XRD. Also, output voltage, rheology, gelation time, and swelling demeanor were evaluated. The successful synthesis of PCL-chitosan-gelatin-Al₂O₃ nanofibers and polyaniline-graphene was detected using FTIR and XRD spectra. The piezoelectricity property of core–shell conduit demonstrates that the output voltage of the structure has been increased from 339 to 480 mV with 0 and 1.5 (wt.%) of polyaniline-graphene samples respectively. The changes in rheological parameters (complex viscosity, storage, and loss modulus) in the cases of polyaniline-graphene nanocomposite incorporation have been observed. The MTT assay of PC12 cells in contact with neural conduit did not show any specific toxicity. Obtained results depict that the thermosensitive gellan-agar- polyaniline-graphene-filled PCL-chitosan-gelatin-Al₂O₃ nanofibers would be a possible candidate as a conduit.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Conduit
• electrical behavior
• nanofibers
• nerve
• rheology