Control of the morphology of micro/nanostructures of polycarbonate via electrospinning

Abstract

Many of the applications proposed for bioassays, scaffolds for tissue engineering, filtrations, and supports for catalysts require polymeric membranes with large specific surface areas. Polycarbonate (PC) is a possible candidate for these applications because of its excellent mechanical performance and good biocompatibility. Electrospinning is a simple and effective method for large-scale fabrication of micro-/nano- fibrous membranes with large specific surface areas. How to control the morphology of electrospun PC fibers, however, has not been systematically investigated. We describe the controllable fabrication of continuous and uniform PC fibers. We electrospin PC/chloroform solutions doped with different types of surfactants including anionic, zwitterionic, nonionic and cationic surfactants. Only cationic surfactants can lead to the successful fabrication of uniform PC fibers. After the analysis of the correlation between solution properties such as viscosity, surface tension, and conductivity and the morphology of electrospun fibers, we conclude that the addition of cationic surfactants such as cetane trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) that leads to a decrease in viscosity is the main factor responsible for the formation of PC fibers. The demonstration of the fabrication of uniform PC fibers will lend experience to processing other polymers into fibers via electrospinning.