With heart disease being a leading cause of death in the United States, development of biocompatible materials that can mimic the structure and function of heart tissue is an important area of research. Electrospun silk mats have been shown to have a nanofibrous structure similar to cardiac tissue, and silk has been demonstrated to be highly compatible with biological tissues <i>in vivo</i>. Further incorporation of conducting polymers with the silk nanofibers allows the fiber mats to undergo electromechanical actuation. Here we present a method for fabricating devices that utilizes electrospun silk-conducting polymer composite mats to generate force during actuation, thus mimicking the structure and function of heart tissue.

Actuation of electrospun silk-conducting polymer composites

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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