Color change technology offers unique and challenging opportunities. Thermo-responsive color-changing nanofibers with reversibility have great potential as thermal sensors due to their increased sensitivity and fast response. Herein, polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers were produced by adding a leuco-based thermochromic dye with various concentrations (1%, 3%, and 5% wt corresponding to PCL1, PCL3, and PCL5, respectively). The color-changing properties with repetitive heating and cooling were studied, and the effect of dye concentration on the nanofiber properties was determined. The surface properties, dye presence, thermal and mechanical properties were analyzed by SEM–EDS, FTIR, DSC, and tensile tests. Finally, the color change properties were monitored by 1000 heating and cooling cycles between 20 and 40 °C. Thermochromic PCL nanofibers were successfully produced by electrospinning. However, some agglomerates were observed on the nanofibers with increasing dye concentration in SEM images. It was seen that the optimum dye concentration was 3% in terms of the electrospinnability. For PCL5, both presence of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and fluorine in EDS spectra, the shifted peaks at 2917 and 2849 cm−1, and the new peaks at 1558, 1517, 1330, 1274, 1213 and 883 cm−1 in FTIR spectra confirmed that dye had been successfully incorporated into the PCL structure. The dye addition caused a decrease in the crystallization degrees, which resulted in lower mechanical properties. PCL5 had the lowest modulus. Color measurements showed that 1% of dyes concentration was not sufficient for the thermochromic property, and the color change was still visually detectable for PCL3 and PCL5 even after 1000 heating and cooling cycles. Color change activation temperature (TA) was confirmed between 30 and 32 °C, and the stability of color change was confirmed for 1000 heating and cooling cycles. After 1000 heating and cooling cycles, the color change was still detectable for PCL3 and PCL5. Consequently, this study showed that reversible thermochromic PCL nanofibers could be promising materials for future sensor applications.

In the present study, polycaprolactone/polyethylene glycol (PCL/PEG) electrospun nanofibres with different anthocyanin (1%, 2%, 3%, and 5%) were fabricated for the instant measurement of pH, especially for applications—such as food freshness detection—where quick response is required. The solution, surface, chemical, thermal, wettability, mechanical, and release properties of the samples were evaluated by viscosity measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), contact angle measurements, and tensile tests, respectively. The colorimetric analyses were also investigated against the solutions at different pH values and bacterial solutions. Finally, the on-site performance of the sensor was evaluated. Anthocyanin addition initially lowered the solution viscosity, resulting in thinner fibres with a diameter of 288 nm. The diameters were increased up to 395 nm with the increasing anthocyanin. Anthocyanin addition enhanced the wettability and the mechanical properties, and the contact angles decreased to 43°. The highest modulus was observed for 1% anthocyanin, with a value of 6.162. The release experiments revealed that the anthocyanin-loaded samples released a large amount of anthocyanin (between ~12% and 38%) in the first 15 s. The colorimetric analyses showed that PCL/PEG nanofibre mats with 2% and 3% anthocyanin concentrations were the most capable pH-sensitive sensors for detecting pH changes from 2 to 8. As a result, it can be concluded that 3% anthocyanin is the threshold value for the production of the anthocyanin-loaded nanofibre mats, and these structures are promising for the instant detection of pH proved by the on-site application.