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Structure and Morphology of Poly(ε-caprolactone) Heterogeneous Shish-Kebab Structure Induced by Poly(lactic acid) Nanofibers

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Abstract

In recent years, the hybrid shish-kebab structure with excellent physical properties and functionalities has attracted much attention because it provides a way of blending nanofibers with different properties into polymer matrix in a regular arrangement. It is often not easy to induce the formation of the hierarchically ordered structure for the semi-crystalline polymer in heterogeneous shish-kebab structure. A poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) heterogeneous shish-kebab structure, i.e., the PCL crystals periodically crystallized onto PLA nanofibers, was successfully created and the interfacial crystal morphology of the PLA/PCL heterogeneous shish-kebab structure was observed using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. NaOH aqueous solution was applied to modify the surface of the PLA nanofibers to produce adsorption sites and carboxyl groups. The total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results demonstrated that the formation of the heterogeneous shish-kebab structure was mainly due to the hydrogen bonding interaction between the kebab and shish interface, and the growth process of the kebab crystals also promoted the crystallization of the shish fibers. This heterogeneous nanostructure of biodegradable polymers will have great applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

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Acknowledgments

The authors affiliated with the Zhengzhou University acknowledge the research facility, the financial support from the National Center for International Joint Research of Micro-Nano Molding Technology in China, the International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China (No. 2015DFA30550).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanics and Safety Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Zhong-Hua Chang, Dong-Fang Wang & Qian Li

  2. National Center for International Research of Micro-Nano Molding Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Zhong-Hua Chang, Dong-Fang Wang, Yi-Yang Xu, Meng-Yuan Zhang & Qian Li

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Meng-Yuan Zhang & Qian Li

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  1. Zhong-Hua Chang
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  2. Dong-Fang Wang
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Structure and Morphology of Poly(ε-caprolactone) Heterogeneous Shish-Kebab Structure Induced by Poly(lactic acid) Nanofibers

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Chang, ZH., Wang, DF., Xu, YY. et al. Structure and Morphology of Poly(ε-caprolactone) Heterogeneous Shish-Kebab Structure Induced by Poly(lactic acid) Nanofibers. Chin J Polym Sci 40, 1223–1232 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-022-2747-8

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