Electrospinning chitosan/poly(ethylene oxide) solutions with essential oils: Correlating solution rheology to nanofiber formation

• Fibers containing cinnamaldehyde (CIN) or hydrocinnamic alcohol (H-CIN) were spun.
• The molecular weight and degree of acetylation of chitosan affect electrospinning.
• We established entanglement concentrations for chitosan/PEO/oil solutions.
• Oil properties altered the quantity of oil that was incorporated into the fibers.
• Hydrophilic fibers that deliver hydrophobic agents are potential wound dressings.

Electrospinning hydrophilic nanofiber mats that deliver hydrophobic agents would enable the development of new therapeutic wound dressings. However, the correlation between precursor solution properties and nanofiber morphology for polymer solutions electrospun with or without hydrophobic oils has not yet been demonstrated. Here, cinnamaldehyde (CIN) and hydrocinnamic alcohol (H-CIN) were electrospun in chitosan (CS)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) nanofiber mats as a function of CS molecular weight and degree of acetylation (DA). Viscosity stress sweeps determined how the oils affected solution viscosity and chain entanglement (Ce) concentration. Experimentally, the maximum polymer:oil mass ratio electrospun was 1:3 and 1:6 for CS/PEO:CIN and:H-CIN, respectively; a higher chitosan DA increased the incorporation of H-CIN only. The correlations determined for electrospinning plant-derived oils could potentially be applied to other hydrophobic molecules, thus broadening the delivery of therapeutics from electrospun nanofiber mats.

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