Characterizing cross‐linking within polymeric biomaterials in the SEM by secondary electron hyperspectral imaging

A novel capability built upon secondary electron (SE) spectroscopy provides an enhanced cross‐linking characterization toolset for polymeric biomaterials, with cross‐linking density and variation captured at a multiscale level. The potential of SE spectroscopy for material characterization has been investigated since 1947. The absence of suitable instrumentation and signal processing proved insurmountable barriers to applying SE spectroscopy to biomaterials, and consequently, capturing SE spectra containing cross‐linking information is a new concept. To date, cross‐linking extent is inferred from analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), differential scanning calorimetry, and Raman spectroscopy (RS). NMR provides extremely localized information on the atomic scale and molecular scale, while RS information volume is on the microscale. Other methods for the indirect study of cross‐linking are bulk mechanical averaging methods, such as tensile and compression modulus testing. However, these established averaging methods for the estimation of polymer cross‐linking density are incomplete because they fail to provide information of spatial distributions within the biomaterial morphology across all relevant length scales. The efficacy of the SE spectroscopy capability is demonstrated in this paper by the analysis of poly(glycerol sebacate)‐methacrylate (PGS‐M) at different degrees of methacrylation delivering new insights into PGS‐M morphology.