Extrusion printed graphene/polycaprolactone/ composites for tissue engineering

In this work fibres and complex three-dimensional scaffolds of a covalently linked graphene-polycaprolactone composite were successfully extruded and printed using a melt extrusion printing system. Fibres with varying diameters and morphologies, as well as complex scaffolds were fabricated using an additive fabrication approach and were characterized. It was found that the addition of graphene improves the mechanical properties of the fibres by over 50% and in vitro cytotoxicity tests showed good biocompatibility indicating a promising material for tissue engineering applications.