Polycaprolactone/Gelatin and Polycaprolactone/MXene/Gelatin Composite Films for Biomedical Applications

Herein, we report the fabrication of composite films based on polycaprolactone (PCL), MXene, and gelatin prepared by solution casting intended for use e.g. as scaffold materials for biomedical engineering. Three different concentrations of gelatin derived from bovine, fish, and porcine skin were used to prepare the composites. The films were characterized for their chemical structure, morphology, physicochemical properties, cytotoxicity, biocompatibility, and cell growth. All the films exhibited high tensile strength ranging from 8.6 to 10.2 MPa. SAXS showed that the nm-scale lamellar stack structure typical for PCL was present in all samples and larger particles (> 20 nm) were observed in all composite films. On the other hand, WAXS showed that the ratio of the individual PCL reflections varied with the sample composition indicating a preferential orientation of PCL crystallites, especially in MXene-containing samples. The SEM/SE micrographs displayed a rough morphology of gelatin nanoparticles in PCL matrix and the roughness of structure decreased in the following order: PCL/MX/fish gelatin > PCL/MX/bovine gelatin > PCL/MX/porcine gelatin.  In vitro cell culture experiments with SAOS‑2 cells revealed that the composition of the studied films influenced cell adhesion and proliferation. The best cell growth was observed for samples with porcine gelatin in combination with MXene.