Fabrication of microstructured poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) films with controlled surface topography

Abstract

The possibility of fabrication of microstructured poly-3-hydroxybutyrate films by self-assembly water microdroplets technique, using artificial templates and polymer inverse emulsions has been studied. It has been established that self-assembly water microdroplets technique allows forming ordered microstructures of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate with a hexagonal arrangement of cells with an adjustable diameter from 1 to 4 цт. It has been shown that application of inverse emulsions of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate allows us to fabricate porous films with a pore size in the range from 0.4 to 3 ^m, while the structure of the films and the pore size can be controlled by changing the polymer concentration in the dispersion medium and the volume ratio of the phases. Using spin-coating technique and artificial templates, it is possible to obtain poly-3-hydroxybutyrate microstructured replicas, which are characterized by a high degree of uniformity and the absence of defective areas. It has been shown that the formed microstructured poly-3-hydroxybutyrate films with controlled surface topography are promising for use as scaffolds for stem cells.