Preparation of Porous Biodegradable Polymer and Its Nanocomposites by Supercritical CO2 Foaming for Tissue Engineering

Using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO(2)) as an alternative to conventional methods in the preparation of porous biodegradable polymer and polymer/nanocomposites for tissue engineering has attracted increasing interest in recent years due to the absence of using organic solvents and the ability to incorporate thermosensitive biologicals without loss of bioactivity. Additionally, scCO(2) can exert a high level of control over porosity and morphology of scaffolds by tuning the processing parameters. This paper describes the newly achievements on the preparation of porous polymer materials using scCO(2) foaming technology with focus on the porous biodegradable materials and its nanocomposites relevant to tissue engineering.