Bioactive TiCaPCON-coated PCL nanofibers as a promising material for bone tissue engineering

This work deals with the deposition of bioactive TiCaPCON films onto biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers using magnetron sputtering for bone tissue engineering. Low melting point of PCL nanofibers requires a careful tuning of processing parameters in order to achieve high film quality and avoid substrate degradation. SEM and XPS analyses showed that, with the magnetron current of 2 A, the TiCaPCON films deposited onto PCL nanofibers and Si wafers exhibit similar chemical states hereby indicating that the nanofiber structure is not affected by the deposition process. In vitro biological tests indicated that the osteoblasts adhesion and proliferation as well the ALP activity can be significantly improved by depositing the TiCaPCON film onto PCL. The reported findings suggest a new strategy for the preparation of biodegradable polymer-based biomaterials for bone tissue engineering.