Cell encapsulation unit) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (acetylated unit). It is derived from the N-deacetylation of chitin and has been used for several applications such as drug delivery, space-filling implants and in wound dressings. However, one drawback of this polymer is its weak mechanical properties and is thus often combined with other polymers such collagen to form a polymer with stronger mechanical properties for cell encapsulation applications. Agarose is a polysaccharide derived from seaweed used for nanoencapsulation of cells and the cell/agarose suspension can be modified to form microbeads by reducing the temperature during preparation. However, one drawback with the microbeads so obtained is
Polymer nanocomposite nanofibres, rods, tubes etc. make polymers a good platform for the immobilization of biological objects. Polymer fibers are, in general, produced on a technical scale by extrusion, i.e., a polymer melt or a polymer solution is pumped through cylindrical dies and spun/drawn by a take-up device. The resulting fibers have diameters typically on the 10-µm scale or above. To come down in diameter into the range of several hundreds of nanometers or even down to a few nanometers, Electrospinning is today still the leading polymer processing technique available. A strong electric field of the order of 103 V/cm is applied