Micro/nano replication and 3D assembling techniques for scaffold fabrication

• Micro/nano fabrication methods create organized structures for tissue engineering.
• Hot embossing and soft lithography methods produce 2D substrates.
• Assembling techniques must be used for 3D scaffold production.

The development of tissue engineering field entails the creation of micro/nanoscale features for cellular alignment and biocompatibility improvement. As replication techniques, hot embossing and soft lithography can be used to produce micro/nanoscale features on biodegradable membranes. Subsequently the generation of 3D scaffolds can be done by means of assembling techniques.Using the described techniques, high resolution of features, as small as 5 nm, can be achieved. Nevertheless membrane assembling must be fully studied to avoid feature fluctuations and even collapse of the scaffold.The present review focuses on the state-of-the-art in the replication techniques used to create micro/nanoscale features on biodegradable polymers and assembling approaches to construct scaffolds with the aim of exploring existing advances and limitations of the reported methods.