Controlling the morphology of polycaprolactone microparticles produced by electrospraying

Linh Vu Viet Nguyen,Phu Dai Huynh

doi:10.32508/stdjns.v1it4.477

Abstract

Electrospraying is an effective method to produce polycaprolactone microparticles for drug or protein carrier application. In this study, some factors which influenced the morphology of polycaprolactone (PCL) particles were investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), such as polymer concentration, solvent and distance from tip to the collector. The SEM micrographs indicated that the low concentration (1 %) of PCL solution created in wrinkled and hollow semi-spheres while wrinkled spheres were formed by using higher polymer concentration (4 %). The spherical morphology was obtained when the polymer concentration was high enough (4 %) to create significant chain entanglements. In addition, chloroform and dichloromethane were good solvents to fabricate electrosprayed microspheres. Solvent mixtures such as acetone and chloroform or Dimethylformamide (DMF) and chloroform were unsuitable for electrosprayed particles since they caused unstable and heterogeneous shape. This research demonstrated that the morphology of microparticles was controlled by adjusting parameters of electrospraying to have a homogeneous and stable morphology.

Highlights

Electrospraying has been a significant method to produce micro polymeric particles loading drug/protein
Chain entanglement occurs during electrospraying process and influences the final morphology of particles
Flow rate was fixed at 1 mL/h while applying voltage and distance between needle and collector were adjusted to control the spraying mode and the final morphology of PCL particles

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Electrospraying has been a significant method to produce micro polymeric particles loading drug/protein. By adjusting electrospraying parameters such as polymer concentration, solvent, distance from the tip to the collector, the morphology of particles could be controlled. Polymer chains didn’t have enough time to diffuse from surface to the center of the droplets and caused the porous, hollow and wrinkled particles. If the chain entanglements were presented significant, the spherical particles could be generated [2,3,4,5]. The number of chain entanglements increases highly and the particles morphology is beaded fibers, even fibers in shape [6]. When using highly evaporating solvents, the particle morphology has hollow and porous structures such as cup-like, shell-like and wrinkled shape. We will study the effects of morphology and size of microparticles on drug release in vitro

MATERIALS AND METHODS

AND DISCUSSION

Findings

CONCLUSION