Abstract
In this study, silk nanofibres were prepared by electrospinning from silk fibroin in a mixture of formic acid and calcium chloride. A needle and a rotating cylinder were used as fibre generators in the spinning process. The influences of the spinning electrode and spinning parameters (silk concentration and applied voltage) on the spinning process, morphology of the obtained fibres, and the production rate of the spinning process were examined. The concentration of the spinning solution influenced the diameter of the silk electrospun fibres, with an increase in the concentration increasing the diameters of the fibres in both spinning systems. The diameters of the electrospun fibres produced by roller electrospinning were greater than those produced by needle electrospinning. Moreover, increasing the concentration of the silk solution and the applied voltage in the spinning process improved the production rate in roller electrospinning but had less influence on the production rate in needle electrospinning.
Highlights
In recent years, polymer nanofibres have gained much attention as promising materials due to their unique properties, such as a high specific surface area, small pore diameters, and ability to act as a barrier against microorganisms [1,2,3]
The scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs and diameter distribution of the silk fibroin electrospun fibres produced by the needle and roller electrospinning techniques are shown in Figures 2 and 3, respectively
The results show that under the same electrospinning conditions, the fibre diameter and fibre diameter distribution of the obtained electrospun fibres increased with both systems in accordance with an increase in the silk fibroin concentration, demonstrating the important role of the concentration of the spinning solution in fibre formation during the electrospinning process
Summary
Polymer nanofibres have gained much attention as promising materials due to their unique properties, such as a high specific surface area, small pore diameters, and ability to act as a barrier against microorganisms [1,2,3]. Electrospinning was described as early as 1934 by Anton [5] It is a simple but effective method to produce polymer fibres with a diameter in the range of several micrometres down to tens of nanometres, depending on the polymer and processing conditions [4, 5]. A high electric voltage is applied to the polymer solution. Upon applying a high voltage to the electrospinning system, a number of solution jets are simultaneously generated from the surface of the rotating spinning electrode, thereby improving fibre productivity [5]. We studied the influences of the concentration of the spinning solution and applied voltage on the morphology of the obtained electrospun fibres and the production rate of the spinning process
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