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Hydrogels offer interesting possibilities in various biomedical applications, including tissue regeneration, drug delivery, and cell therapy, due to excellent biocompatibility and good nutrient and oxygen transportation abilities. However, most of these applications require improvements in mechanical properties and functionalization. In this study, a novel technique for fabricating 3D nanofiber-reinforced hydrogel composites is described as a means of enhancing the strength and durability of hydrogels. The method is based on the layer-by-layer electrospinning of nanofibers on an evenly spread, thin hydrogel solution. A coaxial nozzle was introduced for electrospinning highly wettable ethanol-treated nanofibers. This process enhanced the compatibility between the nanofiber reinforcements and the hydrogel matrix. The compressive strength and stiffness of the resulting nanofiber-reinforced hydrogel composites were enhanced to ∼221% and ∼434% compared to the pure hydrogel, respectively. Moreover, the equilibrium modulus was increased by a factor of nearly 1.73 when the volume fraction of nanofibers was 0.085. It was demonstrated that a 3D nanofiber-reinforced hydrogel composite could be fabricated without the cumbersome stacking of hydrogel-coated fiber meshes. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the reinforced composites can be modulated by adjusting the volume fraction of nanofibers.

Recently, many groups have researched the reconstruction of bone tissue and the development of bone scaffolds using solid freeform fabrication technology. However, the capacity to produce three-dimensional hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffolds with a very accurate architecture is limited by difficulties in the manufacturing process. In this study, a HA scaffold with an accurate pore size of 300+/[email protected] was fabricated using a microstereolithography (MSTL) system and molding technology. In addition, an agar-overlay test was performed to investigate the cytotoxicity of the fabricated scaffold.