Comprehensive review on electrospinning techniques as versatile approaches toward antimicrobial biopolymeric composite fibers

Abstract Electrospun (bio)polymeric fibers have attracted widespread interest as functional materials with suitable morphology and properties for their use as tissue engineering scaffolds and/or wound dressings. The fibrous/porous morphology of this type of materials promotes the adhesion and proliferation of tissue cells, but on the other hand, pathogenic microorganisms unfortunately can also be attached to the fibers, thus leading to serious infections and consequently to the immediate removal of the scaffolds or wound dressings, which may imply greater tissue damage. In this context, this review addresses the more recent approaches based on electrospinning and related techniques for developing composite (bio)polymeric fibers with tailored antimicrobial properties either by using mere electrospinning for the incorporation of well-defined antimicrobial nanoparticles (silver, gold, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, copper oxide, etc. ) or by resorting to the combination of electrospraying and electrospinning for the generation of nanoparticle-coated fibers, as well as coaxial electrospinning for obtaining fibers with nanoparticle-rich surface.