Summary
Sol-gel derived borate glasses convert to bone-like mineral (hydroxycarbonated apatite) unusually quickly, making them promising for bone repair — but they need a fibrous scaffold form to be useful in tissue engineering. This study incorporates borate-glass (BG) particles into electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) fibres to create composite scaffolds, at loadings of 2.5 and 5 w/v%. The higher BG loading produced a three-dimensional, cotton-wool-like fibrous morphology. In-vitro bioactivity was assessed in simulated body fluid for up to 7 days: scanning electron microscopy, FTIR and X-ray diffraction all showed apatite forming on the 5 w/v% composite scaffold, initiating early in the immersion period. Dynamic vapour sorption revealed greater mass change with increasing BG content, attributed to water sorption and indicating higher reactivity of the composite. The borate-glass/PCL scaffolds are thus attractive acellular bioactive materials for bone tissue engineering.