was homogenized using a homogenizer (Ultra-Turrax, IKA-
WERKE, Germany) at a high speed
.
The scaffolds were
fabricated in the following steps: 10 mL of PHBV or HA/
PHBV emulsion was put into a beaker (30 mL, pre-warmed
to 50
C). The beaker containing the emulsion was then
rapidly transferred into a freezer at a preset temperature to
solidify the emulsion. The solidified emulsion was main-
tained at that temperature overnight. The frozen emulsion
was subsequently transferred into a freeze-drying vessel
(LABCONCO-Freeze dry system, USA) which had been set
at the temperature of –35
C. The samples were freeze dried
for at least 72 h to remove the solvent and the water phase
completely. The scaffolds produced were stored in a vacuum
desiccator at room temperature for storage and further
removal of any residual solvent until being used for
characterization