investigation into the influence of electrospinning parameters on the diameter and alignment of poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) fibers

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science Vol. 120; no. 3; pp. 1694 - 1706
• Main Authors: Tong, Ho-Wang, Wang, Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 05.05.2011; Wiley; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Alignment; Applied sciences; biodegradable; biofibers; Biological and medical sciences; biomimetic; Cylinders; Electrospinning; Exact sciences and technology; Fibers; Fibers and threads; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Materials science; Medical sciences; Morphology; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Polymers; Rotational; Scaffolds; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Technology of polymers; Technology. Biomaterials. Equipments; Tissue engineering; tissue engineering scaffold; biodegradable; Valerate(hydroxy) copolymer; Tissue engineering; Synthetic fiber; biomimetic; Electrospinning; Butyrate(hydroxy) copolymer; biofibers; tissue engineering scaffold; Experimental study; Property processing relationship; Structure processing relationship; Ester copolymer; Solvent spinning; Morphology; Biomaterial; Factorial design; Diameter
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.33302

Electrospinning is an effective technology for the fabrication of ultrafine fibers, which can be the basic component of a tissue engineering scaffold. In tissue engineering, because cells seeded on fibrous scaffolds with varying fiber diameters and morphologies exhibit different responses, it is critical to control these characteristics of electrospun fibers. The diameter and morphology of electrospun fibers can be influenced by many processing parameters (e.g., electrospinning voltage, needle inner diameter, solution feeding rate, rotational speed of the fiber-collecting cylinder, and working distance) and solution properties (polymer solution concentration and conductivity). In this study, a factorial design approach was used to systematically investigate the degree of influence of each of these parameters on fiber diameter, degree of fiber alignment, and their possible synergetic effects, using a natural biodegradable polymer, poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate), for the electrospinning experiments. It was found that the solution concentration invoked the highest main effect on fiber diameter, whereas both rotational speed of the fiber-collecting cylinder and addition of a conductivity-enhancing salt could significantly affect the degree of fiber alignment. By carefully controlling the electrospinning parameters and solution properties, fibrous scaffolds of desired characteristics could be made to meet the requirements of different tissue engineering applications.