Fabrication of polycaprolactone nanofibrous scaffolds by facile phase separation approach

• Spherulite nanofibrous PCL scaffolds were fabricated by thermally induced phase separation.
• Gelation temperature and water content affect the spherulite-like morphology.
• Macroporous scaffolds have good apatite-forming ability.

Three-dimensional polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds with spherulite and nanofibrous structures were fabricated for the first time by thermally induced phase separation from a ternary PCL/dioxane/water system. Moreover, the effects of polymer concentration, aging temperature and the ratio of dioxane to water on the morphology of nanofibrous scaffolds were investigated. The result revealed that gelation, aging temperature, and ratio of solvents significantly influenced the formation of the unique spherulite and nanofibrous structures. The apatite-formation ability test showed relatively rapid growth of carbonate hydroxyapatite in the nanofibrous PCL scaffold with macropore compared to the other two scaffolds with smooth structure and nanofibrous structure without macropore, respectively, indicating good apatite-formation ability of the macroporous and nanofibrous PCL scaffolds.