Silica Nanofibers with Enhanced Wettability and Mechanical Strength for Bone Tissue Engineering: Electrospinning without Polymer Carrier and Subsequent Heat Treatment

This paper reports a polymer-free electrospinning process for pure silica nanofibers from TEOS sol and investigates how post-calcination affects their structure and properties. The fibers displayed high porosity (>90%), tunable wettability, and mechanical strength. Calcination at 800 °C reduced Young’s modulus from 61 ± 5 MPa to 29 ± 6 MPa and decreased hydrophilicity, indicating that surface chemistry and microstructure control mechanical performance for bone tissue scaffold applications.