One-step facile construction of high aspect ratio Fe3O4 decorated CNFs with distinctive porous morphology: Potential multiuse expectations

The objective of our study was to develop a new class of Fe3O4 nanocrystals decorated CNFs with characteristic porous morphology by straightforward approach. The utilized CNFs–Fe3O4 hybrid was prepared by sol–gel electrospinning employing polyacrylonitrile and iron (III) nitrate nonahydrate as precursors. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques were employed to characterize novel CNFs–Fe3O4 composite. Nanofibers are having porous morphology, diameter size in the range of ∼260 ± 20 nm. In order to demonstrate the broad applicability of CNFs–Fe3O4 scaffold, we performed different analysis. The antibacterial activity was tested using Escherichia coli as model organism. With NIH 3T3 mouse fibroblasts, cytotoxicity of prepared high aspect ratio CNFs–Fe3O4 composite was evaluated by thiazoyl blue tetrazolium-bromide (MTT) assay, and fibroblast cell growth behavior with electrospun porous scaffolds was also examined. Interestingly, the prepared nanofibers exhibited enhanced bactericidal performance (minimum inhibition concentrations (MIC) from 5 μg/mL to 80 μg/mL) and CNFs–Fe3O4 composite as scaffolds indicated favorable enhancement in cell proliferation. Results from this study suggest that CNFs–Fe3O4 scaffold with small diameters coincidence with unique porous configuration can mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) well and provide potential promises for applications in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Our findings clearly suggest wide application potentials of this (CNFs–Fe3O4) multifunctional composite and the nanofiberous mat can be a very good candidate as a filter for water purification, antibiofouling filtration and ECM for tissue engineering.

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► Fe3O4 nanocrystals decorated CNFs with high aspect ratio were synthesized.
► Nanofibers are having porous morphology, diameter size in the range of ∼260 ± 20 nm.
► Potential uses as a filter for water purification, antibiofouling filtration.
► Prospective ECM for tissue engineering.