Abstract
In tissue engineering, there is limited availability of a simple, fast and solvent-free process for fabricating micro-porous thin membrane scaffolds. This paper presents the first report of a novel surface suspension melt technique to fabricate a micro-porous thin membrane scaffolds without using any organic solvent. Briefly, a layer of polycaprolactone (PCL) particles is directly spread on top of water in the form of a suspension. After that, with the use of heat, the powder layer is transformed into a melted layer, and following cooling, a thin membrane is obtained. Two different sizes of PCL powder particles (100 mu m and 500 mu m) are used. Results show that membranes made from 100 mu m powders have lower thickness, smaller pore size, smoother surface, higher value of stiffness but lower ultimate tensile load compared to membranes made from 500 mu m powder. C2C12 cell culture results indicate that the membrane supports cell growth and differentiation. Thus, this novel membrane generation method holds great promise for tissue engineering.