Effects of heat-treatment on surface morphologies, mechanical properties of nanofibrous poly(propylene carbonate) biocomposites and its cell culture

•PPC nanofibers exhibited soft rubber-like features.•Mechanics of PPC nanofibers were dramatically improved after heat-treatment.•PPC/PLA composite nanofibers showed topographically peculiar morphologies.•Biomedical applications as a scaffold tissue engineering.

We report controlled surface morphologies, mechanical properties and cell culture of biomimetic pure poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) and PPC/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composite nanofibers prepared by sol–gel electrospinning. Pure PPC nanofibers exhibited soft rubber-like features with lower mechanical properties (elastic modulus ∼59.7 MPa, tensile strength ∼6.2 MPa), while the mechanical properties of as-spun PPC nanofibers were dramatically improved after heat-treatments at 60 °C. Furthermore, the PPC/PLA composite nanofibers exhibited topographically peculiar morphologies (in particular, an embossing-like surface protrusions), probably due to poor miscibility between PPC and PLA. CCK-8 assay results of cultured myoblasts clarified that pure PPC and PPC/PLA composite nanofibers were nontoxic to the cells, which therefore, suggest them to be used in biomedical applications as a scaffold for tissue engineering.

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