Preparation and Characterization of the Electrospun Alginate Nanofibers

Abstract

Due to some intrinsic functional behavior of alginate, many potential applications in the healthcare industry especially in wound care sector are observed. Many researches have been carried out to develop potential biomedical biocompatible products in different forms from alginate fibres. Alginate nanofibres were prepared from sodium alginate polymer with the presence of poly-(ethylene oxide) (PEO), a small amount of Triton ×100 surfactant. A homogeneous spinning solution was prepared for producing Na-alginate/PEO nanofibers in electrospinning device. Nanofibres were produced by electrospinning from 70:30 and 80:20 Na-alginate/PEO of 4% solution. After a series of trials, the electrospinning parameters were optimized at 16 cm working distance, 0.4 mL/h flow rate and 10.5 kV applied voltage. The results show that the 4 wt% of 70:30 Na-alginate/PEO solution with 0.5 wt% Triton × 100 surfactant yielded smooth and stable electrospinning. The surface morphology of the fibres was investigated using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and found the uniform fibres with an average diameter of 124 nm containing few thick or spindle-like fibres. FTIR investigation identified the chemical structure and molecular changes that occurred in the fibers.