Nanostructured electrically conducting biofibres produced using a reactive wet-spinning process

Electrically conducting, robust fibres comprised of both an alginate (Alg) biopolymer and a polypyrrole (PPy) component have been produced using reactive wet-spinning. Using this approach polypyrrole-biopolymer fibres were also produced with single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs), added to provide additional strength and conductivity. The fibres produced containing CNTs show a 78% increase in ultimate stress and 25% increase in elongation to break compared to PPy-alginate fibre. These properties are essential for studies involving the use of electrical stimulation to promote nerve regrowth and/or muscle regeneration. The resultant a novel fibres had been evaluated to develop a viable system in incorporating biological entities in the composite biomaterial. These results indicated fibres are biocompatible to living cells.