Characterisation of porous freeze dried conducting carbon nanotube–chitosan scaffolds

Abstract

In this study, the fabrication and characterisation of highly porous yet conductive scaffolds was performed. The conductive component, namely single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), was incorporated into a chitosan bio-polymeric matrix utilising a dispersion-based freeze dry approach. The electroactive polymer poly(2-methoxy-5-sulfonic acid) (PMAS) was also successfully incorporated into scaffolds in an effort to improve the structural integrity of scaffolds in an aqueous, biologically relevant environment. Here, we report how the variation in dispersion and scaffold synthesis conditions, as well as the composition of constituent components, impact on scaffold properties.