Surface texturing of electrospun fibres by photoembossing using pulsed laser interference holography and its effects on endothelial cell adhesion

•Photoembossing is used to texture the surface of electrospun fibres.•The technique is used for both micro- and nano-texturing of ultra-thin fibres.•The technique can be used to create bioinspired fibre surfaces.•The effect of fibre surface texture on cell adhesion was evaluated.

Electrospun fibres are nowadays extensively studied for biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and drug delivery. Here, fibres for such applications are electrospun from photopolymer blends using a volatile solvent. The obtained nonwoven fibre mats were textured using a photoembossing technique that uses the interference of two coherent UV laser beams followed by a thermal development step. AFM measurements revealed that the patterned exposure using pulsed laser interference holography resulted in a surface texture on the fibres. The effect of temperature and UV dosage on fibre texturing was studied and was similar to results seen in photoembossed films. Fibronectin and cell adhesion was evaluated on textured fibres of 1 μm diameter with relief structures of 60 nm height and 2 μm pitch. Initial results did not seem to indicate improved cell adhesion for photoembossed fibres compared to their non-embossed counterparts.

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