Electrospinning and structural characterization of ultrafine poly(butylene succinate) fibers

Biodegradable ultrafine poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) fibers were continuously electrospun for the first time from PBS solutions in chloroform (CF)/2-chloroethanol (CE) (7/3, w/w), CF/CE (6/4, w/w), dichloromethane (DM)/CE (7/3, w/w), DM/CE (6/4, w/w), and CF/3-chloro-1-propanol (9/1, w/w). These mixed solvents had an appropriate evaporation rate for the continuous electrospinning of PBS. The ultrafine PBS fibers had very high crystallinity and their average diameters were in the range of 125-315 nm. The annealed ultrafine PBS fibers exhibited a lamellar stack morphology containing crystalline and amorphous layers.