Fabrication and characterization of coblended methyl cellulose with polyvinyl alcohol electrospun nanofibers as a carrier for drug delivery system

Abstract

Polymeric nanofibers have gained a great deal of attention in recent years. This study aims to produce and evaluate a methylcellulose (MC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based nanofibers mat using the electrospinning process. 25–2 fractional factorial screening design has been used to study the effect of critical formulation and process parameters, such as concentration of MC (%), the concentration of PVA (%), applied Voltage (kV), distance (cm), flow rate (ml/hr) on the critical quality attributes like fiber diameter, tensile strength, and morphology. The fiber morphology and fiber diameter of nanofibers were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).s The optimized nanofibers mat was further characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Differential scanning electrons (DSC), Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Atomic force microscopy (AFM). Parameters such as contact angle and rate of biodegradation were studied for an optimized batch. The SEM results showed the uniform morphology of optimized nanofibers without beads with fiber diameter in the range of 100–200 nm. FTIR analysis demonstrated good intermolecular interactions between the molecules of MC with PVA. DSC-TGA study showed good thermal properties of nanofibers. XRD study showed the crystalline nature of nanofibers. Maximum tensile strength up to 2.74 Mpa was obtained which is desired for drug delivery application. The exaggeration of the fiber diameter was measured by AFM and found good surface morphology. Furthermore, results of contact angle and biodegradation rate proved that prepared nanofibers would be considered as a suitable carrier for controlled drug delivery applications like wound healing.