Direct coating of bioactive sol–gel derived silica on poly(ε-caprolactone) nanofibrous scaffold using co-electrospinning

This study reports a novel way of directly coating a poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) nanofibrous scaffold with bioactive sol–gel derived silica by directly co-electrospinning (Co-ES) a PCL solution and silica sol, used as the core and shell materials, respectively. In particular, the silica sols prepared using a sol–gel process at room temperature were heat-treated at 60 °C for various times, ranging from 0 to 9 h, in order to improve their spinability. The surface of the individual PCL nanofibers could be covered completely with a bioactive silica layer using a silica sol heat-treated at 60 °C for more than 6 h, whilst preserving the nanofibrous structure. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) revealed only the characteristic bands associated with the PCL and sol–gel derived silica materials without any noticeable band shift.