Effect of Citric Acid on Swelling Resistance and Physicochemical Properties of Post-Crosslinked Electrospun Polyvinyl Alcohol Fibrous Membrane

Abstract

A series of electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber membranes were crosslinked with citric acid (CA) at concentrations of 10, 20, and 30 wt.% (designated as CA10, CA20, and CA30). The effects of CA on the chemical structure, mechanical strength, swelling resistance, and cytotoxicity of the crosslinked PVA fibrous membranes were investigated. Infrared spectroscopy indicated the enhanced esterification of carboxyl and hydroxyl groups between CA and PVA. The modulus and strength of the electrospun PVA membrane increased due to the crosslinking between CA and PVA. The crosslinking of the PVA fiber matrix with CA increased the PVA binding point, thereby increasing the swelling resistance and modulus; however, the concentration of CA used was limited. Results showed that the water absorption of the PVA membranes decreased from 6.58 ± 0.04 g/g for CA10 to 3.56 ± 3.33 g/g for CA20 and 2.85 ± 0.40 g/g for CA30 with increasing CA. The water absorption remained unchanged after the membrane was soaked for a period of time, so no significant difference was found in the water absorption capacity of the same group after immersion from 1 h to 3 d. The tensile strength increased from 20.52 MPa of CA10 to 22.09 MPa of CA20. With an increased amount of CA used for crosslinking, the tensile strength and modulus of CA30 decreased to 11.48 and 13.94 MPa, respectively. Our study also showed that CA was not toxic to L929 cell viability when used for fiber crosslinking at less than 20 wt.% PVA, meaning it may be a good candidate as a support layer for guided tissue engineering.

Fabrication, Physical–Chemical and Biological Characterization of Retinol-Loaded Poly(vinyl Alcohol) Electrospun Fiber Mats for Wound Healing Applications

“…Previously, it has been reported that such behavior is ascribed to the partial modification of the polymeric structure due to the presence of the guest molecule [ 74 , 75 ]. In support of this study, Huang et al reported previously that the elastic modulus of citric acid crosslinked electrospun PVA membranes were systematically slightly lower than that of the native PVA [ 76 ]. On the contrary, the ultimate tensile strength of the samples increased up to 170% for the RPFM-1 compared to their native PVA fiber mats.…”

Development and In Vitro Analysis of Layer-by-Layer Assembled Membranes for Potential Wound Dressing: Electrospun Curcumin/Gelatin as Middle Layer and Gentamicin/Polyvinyl Alcohol as Outer Layers

“…According to previous experimental results [ 18 ], when the CA concentration is 20 wt.%, the crosslinked PVA membrane does not degrade in the solution and maintains a good fiber shape. Therefore, CA20 was selected as the optimal concentration of CA-crosslinked PVA.…”

“…Accordingly, in the sandwich structure of multilayer membranes, the diffusion barrier through the outer layer could delay and sustain the release of the drug carried from the middle layer. Hydrogel-based electrospun membranes are considered to be an easy and effective strategy to fabricate ECM-like nanofiber structures [ 18 ]. Similarly, researchers investigated electrospun PVA/sodium alginate hydrogel composite nanofiber transdermal patches loaded with ciprofloxacin [ 41 ].…”

Pembuatan Kemasan Biokomposit Berbasis PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol) dan Limbah Kulit Kopi

“…Kemasan biokomposit PVA dengan penambahan asam sitrat memiliki struktur silang yang lebih kuat dan bersifat hidrofobik sehingga lebih rentan terhadap degradasi. (Huang, Liu, Tseng, & Chen, 2023;Nataraj, Reddy, & Reddy, 2020;Sharmin, Sone, Walsh, Sivertsvik, & Fernández, 2021).…”