Spontaneous formation of hierarchical structures in some polylactide/polysilsesquioxane blends

Abstract

The morphology and hierarchical organization of crystals formed during confined solvent evaporation from solutions of polylactide mixed (1 : 1 wt) with amorphous linear ladder polysilsesquioxanes (LPSQ-R) were investigated. The complex crystallization process depends on the type of the functional group R (OH, COOH, COOMe), suggesting the importance of both supramolecular interactions and miscibility of the components. In addition, complementary spectroscopic data showed that the crystallization process may be related to conformational changes of the polyester backbone in the presence of LPSQ-R. The spontaneously formed flat spherulites of PLA crystallized in the presence of LPSQ-OH were organized into hierarchical macrostructures, due to their unusual anisotropic shape. The observed effects indicate that the evaporative crystallization process in polylactide-based blends may be used for fabrication of self-organized biocompatible materials of three-dimensional architectures.