Poly(-caprolactone)/graphene oxide composite systems: A comparative study on hydrolytic degradation at extreme pH values

Abstract

Polycaprolactone/Graphene oxide (PCL/GO) composites are shown to be promising substrates for tissue engineering as their degradation behavior is a key aspect in this type of application. The present paper studies the effect of different GO contents (0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 wt%) of PCL/GO composites on accelerated hydrolytic degradation at extreme pH values. Degradation kinetics at pH 13 is strongly affected by GO content, and speed up at higher percentages. The composite with 0.5 wt% of GO was completely degraded in 72 hours, while degradation at pH 1 presents a different profile and seems to have an induction period that lasts more than 1500 hours. Morphological changes, molecular weight distribution, weight loss, degree of swelling and calorimetric properties were investigated as a function of degradation time. According to the results obtained, the addition of small percentages of GO significantly influences the degradation behavior of the composites acting as degradation modulators.