bioplastics-2016_keynote

2 / 7

Volume 7 Issue 6(Suppl) J Bioremediat Biodegrad
ISSN: 2155-6199 JBRBD, an open access journal
Page 20
Bioplastics 2016
November 10-11, 2016
conferenceseries.com
November 10-11, 2016 Alicante, Spain
International Conference onSustainable Bioplastics
Jean-François Gerard, J Bioremediat Biodegrad 2016, 7:6(Suppl)
Electrospun fibers from biosourced and biodegradable polymers for biotechnological applications
Electrospinning process is one of the most promising routes for the design and development of smart textiles based on
polymer nanofibers. From a proper selection of the electrospinning process parameters and polymers, (multi)functional
textiles could be proposed. In this lecture, we will show how bio-based polymers, such as PLA-based and biodegradable
polymers, such as PBAT, can be used to prepare electrospun scaffolds. In the first part, electrospinning is applied to neat
polylactic acid (PLA) and to PLA-based blends, i.e. PLA/polyethylene glycol-b-polylactic acid block copolymers and PLA/PEG
homopolymer. Electrospun membranes exhibit fibers having diameters from 110 to 310 nm depending on the composition
and large amounts of porosity (about 80% vol.) which are required for cell culture application. In vitro degradation, as well as
the hydrophilicity of the electrospun scaffolds, can be finely tuned frommaterial composition. Fluorescence microscopy shows
that the PLA electrospun fibers based scaffolds are good candidates for the survival and proliferation of neural stem cells. Even
if the introduction of hydrophilic segments, i.e. polyethylene glycol from PLA-b-PEG block copolymer, leads to the same level
of proliferation than PLA-based membranes, the PLA/PLA-b-PEG electrospun membranes exhibited the suitable hydrolytic
degradation required for implantable scaffolds. The second part deals with the development of biodegradable PBAT electrospun
membranes with potential applications in the field of smart textiles. As mentioned previously, the fiber morphology is strongly
dependent on the tip-collector distance, concentration, and applied voltage. Smooth fibers and beads free membranes could
be prepared and analyzed to establish morphology-properties relationships. PBAT membranes having the best thermal and
mechanical properties were selected as host of a curli protein which is able to complex heavy metals. In fact, by electrospinning,
porous membranes exhibiting a large surface-to-volume ratio could be proposed for chelation of pollutants such as nickel.
Biography
Jean-François Gerard has got his PhD in Polymer Science in 1985 and his research work was mainly focused on the synthesis of zwitterionic polyurethanes
from sulfobetainic diols for self-emulsifying systems. He joined CNRS as a Scientist and his expertise deals with interfaces in polymer-based materials and
nanostructured polymers. He is an author of about 240 papers in international journals and 110 invited lectures in international conferences. He is also the Vice
President of the European Center for Nanostructured Polymers and President of the European Polymer Federation.
Jean-François Gerard
Universite de Lyon, France