Abstract
We report the fabrication of bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) fibrous scaffolds containing essential oils (EO). The main goal of this study was to investigate the effects of essential oil type (St. John’s Wort oil (SJWO), lavender oil (LO), and virgin olive oil (OO))/concentration on the electrospinnability of TPU. The effects of applied voltage, flow rate, and end-tip distance on the diameter, morphology, and wettability of the TPU/EO electrospun fibers were investigated. The electrospun TPU/EO scaffolds were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), contact angle (CA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The addition of oil resulted in an increase in the fiber diameter, reduction in the surface roughness, and, accordingly, a reduction in the contact angle of the composite fibers. TPU fibers containing SJWO and LO have a more flexible structure compared to the fibers containing OO. This comparative study fills the existing information gap and shows the benefits of the fabrication of essential-oil-incorporated electrospun fiber with morphology and size range with respect to the desired applications, which are mostly wound dressing and food packaging.
Highlights
Electrospinning is a favorable and powerful technique to fabricate uniform sub-micron fibers in a continuous process and on a large scale from many different polymers
Our research showed the integration of essential oils, SJWO, LO, or OO to the thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanofiber and those composite nanofibers hold great promise for several applications, such as wound dressing, food packaging, and air filtration
Hydrophilic polyester-based thermoplastic aliphatic polyurethane is a medical-grade polymer that can absorb more than 150% of its dry resin weight [35]
Summary
Electrospinning is a favorable and powerful technique to fabricate uniform sub-micron fibers in a continuous process and on a large scale from many different polymers. Various synthetic and natural polymers, composites, and ceramics have been transformed into fibers to benefit their surface area characteristics for several applications, such as filtration, catalysis, energy, sensor, food packaging, and healthcare. Essential oils, which are native liquid oils, have several phytochemical components that are volatile and degrade quite swiftly due to the air, moisture, and temperature. For this reason, the controlled release of the essential oils can be achieved by electrospinning, encapsulation (micro/nano encapsulation, cyclodextrin inclusion complexes), multilayer system, nanoemulsion, and Pickering emulsion [5]. Researchers have focused on the applications of electrospun fibers/essential oil composites in wound dressing, food packaging, bed net containing green insecticides, larvicidal bioassays, native anticancer, and antimicrobial drugs [6]. Four different strategies have been reported to obtain polymer/essential oil composite fibers: (i) essential oil that is blended with a polymer solution and subsequently electrospun, (ii) electrospinning from a polymer solution containing essesntial oil filled in the carrier, such as beta-cyclodextrin or its derivates, PVA microcapsules, and activated carbon, etc., (iii) essential oil (core)–polymer solution (shell) electrospinning [6], (iv) loading essential oil by imbibition onto the electrospun mat [7]
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