Polycaprolactone (PCL) - nanofibers can be used to fabricate fibrous scaffolds for neural tissue applications. A recently developed touch-spinning method was used for fabrication of aligned nanofiber scaffolds on a glass substrate and a wire collector. They are interesting from an engineering point because nanofibers with scalable size can be prepared in a simple manner from polymer solutions. Such anisotropic templates could potentially mimic naturally occurring anisotropy of tissues. In this contribution we present a multi-scale infrared (IR) spectroscopic characterization with respect to the molecular structure, the anisotropy and the ordering of fibers. IR polarimetric methods with spatial resolutions from the macro- (a few mm) to the nanoscale (a few 10 nm) are used. Spectra of a bundle of fibers measured in s-polarized reflection are compared to s-polarized AFM-IR spectra of a single fiber. This approach allows to study of anisotropic properties of a single and a bundle of nanofibers in a non-invasive measurement in ambient conditions.

Infrared Polarimetry: Anisotropy of a single and a bundle of touch-spun PCL - nanofibers

ACS Fall 2021

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