2.2 Scanning electron microscopy

The Quarom EMS 150 Sputter Coater was used to deposit a conductive coating of 50 angstroms of gold for 30 seconds on the polymer fiber scaffolds to reduce charging. An Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM FEI, Quanta 200) was used in low vacuum mode to acquire images for fiber alignment. ImageJ was utilized to determine the angles of orientation for individual fibers by manually drawing lines on the scaffold SEM images. Lines were drawn until the fibers presented on the image were exhausted. Histograms were plotted to represent fiber alignment for each speed with n = 100 for 184 rpm, n = 100 for 216 rpm, n = 100 for 264 rpm, and n = 75 for 328 rpm.