ELECTROSPRAY METHOD: PROCESSING PARAMETERS INFLUENCE ON MORPHOLOGY AND SIZE OF PCL PARTICLES

Abstract

The polymeric microparticles using electrospray technique have been used effectively as the drug carrier, whereby controlled release of drug. The electrosprayed particles morphology and size dictated the degradation of polymer matrix, therefore they influenced the release profile from drug loaded microparticles. The effects of electrospray processing parameters (flow rate, applied voltage and distance from the tip of needle to collector) on morphology and size of polycaprolactone (PCL) particles were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ImageJ software. In this research, the PCL solution was prepared by dissolving PCL in Dichloromethane at 4.5 % solution. In addition, processing parameters such as the flow rate (0.5 mL/h, 1 mL/h, 1.5 mL/h, 2 mL/h and 4 mL/h), the applied voltage (15 kV, 18 kV and 24 kV) and the collecting distance (15 cm, 20 cm, and 25 cm) were changed to examine the effects of them on size and morphology of PCL particles. The results indicated that at the suitable electrospraying parameters (18 kV, 1.5 mL/h, 20–25 cm), microparticles have obtained the uniform and stable morphology while at higher flow rate (2 mL/h and 4 mL/h), the particles were deformed and had bigger size.