Atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasma for the production of composite materials

In the rapidly evolving field of tissue engineering, continuous advances are required to improve scaffold design and fabrication to obtain biomimetic supports for cell adhesion, proliferation, penetration and differentiation. Both electrospun fibrous scaffolds and hydrogels are widely used in this field since they well reproduce the structure of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of many biological tissues. Limitations of these two types of materials can be overcome through their combination, by developing composite structures 1, combining enhanced mechanical properties (provided by the fibrous components) and improved cell penetration (provided by the gel phase) into a superior ability to mimic natural ECM, which is constituted by both a fibrous protein network and a hydrogel matrix.