Failure of Fiber Formation in Electrospun Polyurethane/Chitosan/Elastin Composite Membranes: The Effect of a Temperature-driven Synthesis Method of Electrospinning Solution

Abstract

The fabrication of composite synthetic vascular grafts mimicking the native extracellular matrix is highly desirable in tissue engineering. In this study, we attempted to fabricate a small-diameter vascular graft membrane composed of Polyurethane (PU), Chitosan (Ch), and Elastin (Es) using an electrospinning technique with varying rotating collector speeds. However, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed a complete failure of fiber formation across all rotational speeds (0, 50, 100, and 150 rpm). We hypothesize that the elevated temperature (35°C) used during the preparation of electrospinning solution components increased solvent evaporation, thereby raising the viscosity of the final composite gel to a level that caused fiber breakage during the room-temperature electrospinning process.