What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to create a hybrid bone scaffold that mimics natural bone structure and promotes cell growth.

March 5, 2026Open Access

Design and fabrication of a hybrid piezoelectric bone scaffold using melt electrowriting (MEW) of PCL and FDM 3D-Printing of PVDF

SMSina Fazel Modarres KMKaivan Mohammadi

Key Points

The aim is to create a hybrid bone scaffold that mimics natural bone structure and promotes cell growth.
Developed a hybrid scaffold using melt electrowriting (MEW) and fused deposition modeling (FDM).
Utilized polycaprolactone (PCL) for the cancellous region and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) for the cortical region.
Conducted compressive and tensile mechanical testing to evaluate scaffold strength.
Performed MTT assay to assess cell viability within the scaffolds.
The PVDF-shelled hybrid scaffold achieved a compressive strength of 70.9 MPa.
PCL (MEW) exhibited the highest tensile strain tolerance with an ultimate tensile strength of 6.95 MPa.
Cell viability was high at 92% for the hybrid scaffold and 87% for PCL (FDM).

Abstract

The ability to fabricate scaffolds that closely resemble the structural characteristics of natural bone remains one of the major challenges in bone tissue engineering. Moreover, developing materials for scaffold fabrication that can accelerate the regeneration process is another important issue. A hybrid scaffold was developed in this study using a combination of material extrusion (MEX) technologies, namely melt electrowriting (MEW) and fused deposition modeling (FDM), to mimic the hierarchical architecture of natural bone, consisting of cancellous and cortical regions. The cancellous region was fabricated via MEW using polycaprolactone (PCL), while the cortical region was produced through FDM employing polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). The two sections were subsequently integrated to form the complete scaffold. The incorporation of PVDF enabled cellular stimulation under mechanical loading, thereby enhancing cell growth within the scaffold. These hybrid scaffolds were also compared with scaffolds fabricated using the FDM. The results of compressive mechanical testing showed that the scaffolds with a PVDF shell exhibited the highest compressive strength, with a value of 70.9 MPa. Furthermore, tensile testing indicated that the PCL (MEW) exhibited the highest strain tolerance, with an ultimate tensile strength of 6.95 MPa. In addition, MTT assay revealed high cell viability, with values of 92% for the hybrid scaffold and 87% for PCL (FDM). Consequently, an improved scaffold was proposed for application in bone tissue regeneration. • A hybrid scaffold was fabricated using MEW and FDM to replicate the cancellous and cortical architecture of natural bone. • PCL (MEW) formed the inner porous region, while PVDF (FDM) created the outer shell, enabling mechanical-stimulated cell growth. • The PVDF-shelled hybrid scaffold showed the highest compressive strength (≈ 70.9 MPa) , and the PCL-MEW part had the highest tensile strain (≈ 6.95 MPa). • High cell viability (92%) confirmed that this hybrid design is well suited for bone tissue regeneration.

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