Characterisation of electrospun magnetic nanoparticle ?-Fe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf>/ PVA nanofibers

Abstract

Copyright © (2014) by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers All rights reserved. Magnetic nanoparticles have attracted a great deal of attention and are used for various biomedical applications. The aim of this study is to produce nanofiber mats from magnetic nanoparticles and poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) using electrospinning process. The influence of magnetic nanoparticle loading on the strength of the PVA nanofiber mats was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were used to characterize the synthesized magnetic nanoparticles while the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the developed magnetic nanoparticle ? -Fe < inf > 2 < /inf > O < inf > 3 < /inf > / (PVA) electrospun nanofiber mats. The results revealed that both tensile strength and Young Modulus increased with increase in nanoparticle loading. The contact angle value shows that material is highly hydrophilic indicating that it can be considered as a candidate material for bone tissue engineering applications.