A Review: Current Status and Emerging Developments on Natural Polymer‐Based Electrospun Fibers

• Published in: Macromolecular rapid communications. Vol. 43; no. 21; pp. e2200456 - n/a
• Main Authors: Han, Weisen, Wang, Liangyu, Li, Qin, Ma, Bomou, He, Chunju, Guo, Xuefeng, Nie, Jun, Ma, Guiping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.11.2022
• Subjects: Alginates; Alginic acid; Bamboo; Biocompatibility; Biological activity; biomedical application; Biomedical engineering; Biomedical materials; Cellulose; Chitosan; Collagen; Controlled release; Electrospinning; electrospun fibers; Fibers; Flow rates; Flow velocity; Gelatin; Hyaluronic acid; Keratin; Medical dressings; Natural polymers; Polymers; Polysaccharides; proteins; Raw materials; Saccharides; Silk fibroin; Spinning; Spinning (materials); Sustained release; Tissue engineering
• ISSN: 1022-1336; 1521-3927; 1521-3927
• DOI: 10.1002/marc.202200456

In recent years, natural polymer‐based electrospun fibers (EFs) with huge specific surface area, good biocompatibility, and biological activity obtained from electrospinning process exhibit tremendous vitality in the field of biomedical areas. Herein, the parameters of electrospinning from two perspectives, polymer solution such as solvent, polymeric relative molecular mass, concentration, viscosity, and conductivity of the solution, and electrospinning process such as spinning voltage, spinning flow rate, needle tip to collector distance, temperature, and humidity are first detailed. Next, the raw materials consisting of polysaccharides such as cellulose, hyaluronic acid, alginate, and chitosan as well as proteins such as collagen, gelatin, silk fibroin, and keratin are summarized. The preparation method and related characteristics of EFs with multistage structures such as porous, core–shell, Janus, bamboo‐like and other structures are introduced. The biomedical applications of these natural polymer‐based EFs mainly including tissue engineering, drug sustained release, wound dressings, and biomedical sensors are systematically recapitulated. Finally, the outlook on natural EFs is further proposed. This review is mainly composed of four parts: 1) electrospinning process parameters including polymer solution parameters and electrospinning process parameters, 2) raw materials of electrospun fibers (EFs) including polysaccharide‐based EFs and protein‐based EFs, 3) structures of EFs such as porous and core–shell EFs and, 4) biomedical applications of EFs such as tissue engineering and drug sustained release are discussed.