Rheological, Surface Tension and Conductivity Insights on the Electrospinnability of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-hyaluronic Acid Solutions and Their Correlations with the Nanofiber Morphological Characteristics
In this study, solutions were prepared with fixed concentrations of hyaluronic acid (HA) but varied concentrations of poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to emphasize the effects of PLGA concentration and HA addition on solution properties and to further evaluate their electrospinning performance....
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Polymers |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/20/4411 |
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| author | Ziqian Liu Seeram Ramakrishna Ifty Ahmed Chris Rudd Xiaoling Liu |
| author_facet | Ziqian Liu Seeram Ramakrishna Ifty Ahmed Chris Rudd Xiaoling Liu |
| author_sort | Ziqian Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this study, solutions were prepared with fixed concentrations of hyaluronic acid (HA) but varied concentrations of poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to emphasize the effects of PLGA concentration and HA addition on solution properties and to further evaluate their electrospinning performance. The dependence of specific viscosity on PLGA concentration was studied to determine the concentration regimes and evaluate the critical concentration (C<sub>e</sub>) for successful fiber generation. The C<sub>e</sub> of PLGA solutions is 12.07% compared to 10.09% for PLGA-HA solutions. Blending with HA results in a lower concentration dependence and better consistency to the theoretical scaling mechanisms due to the additional topological constrains, which thus result in more chain entanglements. Solutions in semi-dilute entangled regimes show the crossover of complex moduli, verifying the stable and reliable entanglement network. Higher concentrations and HA addition both led to lower crossover frequencies and, thus, a longer relaxation time. The effects of a higher PLGA concentration and HA addition on the surface tension were not evident. However, the HA addition significantly improved the solution conductivity up to three times in the pure PLGA solutions due to its polyelectrolyte nature. Defect-free and uniform nanofibers were generated from 35% to 40% of the PLGA-HA solutions, yet fibers with bead-on-string structures were produced from all studied pure PLGA solutions. Such solution characteristics and parametric correlations can provide predictive insights on tailoring the morphological characteristics of nanofibers for specific applications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:32:27Z |
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| id | doaj.art-398e873af0a0422bbd71bc453c032d0b |
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| issn | 2073-4360 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:32:27Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
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| series | Polymers |
| spelling | doaj.art-398e873af0a0422bbd71bc453c032d0b2023-11-24T02:08:56ZengMDPI AGPolymers2073-43602022-10-011420441110.3390/polym14204411Rheological, Surface Tension and Conductivity Insights on the Electrospinnability of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-hyaluronic Acid Solutions and Their Correlations with the Nanofiber Morphological CharacteristicsZiqian Liu0Seeram Ramakrishna1Ifty Ahmed2Chris Rudd3Xiaoling Liu4Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo 315100, ChinaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, SingaporeDepartment of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UKJames Cook University Singapore, Singapore 387380, SingaporeDepartment of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo 315100, ChinaIn this study, solutions were prepared with fixed concentrations of hyaluronic acid (HA) but varied concentrations of poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to emphasize the effects of PLGA concentration and HA addition on solution properties and to further evaluate their electrospinning performance. The dependence of specific viscosity on PLGA concentration was studied to determine the concentration regimes and evaluate the critical concentration (C<sub>e</sub>) for successful fiber generation. The C<sub>e</sub> of PLGA solutions is 12.07% compared to 10.09% for PLGA-HA solutions. Blending with HA results in a lower concentration dependence and better consistency to the theoretical scaling mechanisms due to the additional topological constrains, which thus result in more chain entanglements. Solutions in semi-dilute entangled regimes show the crossover of complex moduli, verifying the stable and reliable entanglement network. Higher concentrations and HA addition both led to lower crossover frequencies and, thus, a longer relaxation time. The effects of a higher PLGA concentration and HA addition on the surface tension were not evident. However, the HA addition significantly improved the solution conductivity up to three times in the pure PLGA solutions due to its polyelectrolyte nature. Defect-free and uniform nanofibers were generated from 35% to 40% of the PLGA-HA solutions, yet fibers with bead-on-string structures were produced from all studied pure PLGA solutions. Such solution characteristics and parametric correlations can provide predictive insights on tailoring the morphological characteristics of nanofibers for specific applications.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/20/4411chain entanglementselectrospinningsolution rheologysolution conductivitysurface tension |
| spellingShingle | Ziqian Liu Seeram Ramakrishna Ifty Ahmed Chris Rudd Xiaoling Liu Rheological, Surface Tension and Conductivity Insights on the Electrospinnability of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-hyaluronic Acid Solutions and Their Correlations with the Nanofiber Morphological Characteristics Polymers chain entanglements electrospinning solution rheology solution conductivity surface tension |
| title | Rheological, Surface Tension and Conductivity Insights on the Electrospinnability of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-hyaluronic Acid Solutions and Their Correlations with the Nanofiber Morphological Characteristics |
| title_full | Rheological, Surface Tension and Conductivity Insights on the Electrospinnability of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-hyaluronic Acid Solutions and Their Correlations with the Nanofiber Morphological Characteristics |
| title_fullStr | Rheological, Surface Tension and Conductivity Insights on the Electrospinnability of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-hyaluronic Acid Solutions and Their Correlations with the Nanofiber Morphological Characteristics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rheological, Surface Tension and Conductivity Insights on the Electrospinnability of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-hyaluronic Acid Solutions and Their Correlations with the Nanofiber Morphological Characteristics |
| title_short | Rheological, Surface Tension and Conductivity Insights on the Electrospinnability of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-hyaluronic Acid Solutions and Their Correlations with the Nanofiber Morphological Characteristics |
| title_sort | rheological surface tension and conductivity insights on the electrospinnability of poly lactic co glycolic acid hyaluronic acid solutions and their correlations with the nanofiber morphological characteristics |
| topic | chain entanglements electrospinning solution rheology solution conductivity surface tension |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/20/4411 |
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