Comparative study of the mechanical and biological features of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide composite electrospun meshes

Electrospun scaffolds have been widely used in tissue engineering thanks to their ability to resemble the topological features of the native extracellular matrix. Polycaprolactone (PCL) has been greatly employed in its fibrous form thanks to its good spinnability; however its hydrophobicity and low mechanical proprieties limit its use in hard tissue engineering. Recently, different studies reported that the introduction of nano-sized materials could enhance both the stiffness and bioactivity of polymeric substrates. In particular, graphene-derived nanomaterials are emerging thanks to their unique mechanical, physical, chemical features. In this work, electrospun graphene oxide (GO)/ and reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/PCL composite materials were fabricated and the effects of the two nanomaterials on the final morphology, mechanical proprieties and bioactivity of the fibrous meshes were evaluated.