Preparation of Zein Fibers Using Solution Blow Spinning Method

Abstract

Zein fibers were successfully fabricated via solution blow spinning (SBS) using acetic acid as solvent. Surface tension, viscosity and modulus of zein solutions were respectively determined by force tensiometer and rheometer. Increases of these properties were observed with an increase of concentration from 20% to 35% (w/w). The fabrication conditions of zein fibers were initially investigated as a function of zein concentration (25% to 35% w/w), feed rate (0.04 to 0.1 mL/min) and air pressure (0.28 to 0.62 MPa). The average fiber diameter (AFD) ranged from 174 to 9595 nm based on scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A Box-Behnken experimental design (BBD) was further performed to identify and quantify the significance of above parameters. The statistical analysis showed that the linear coefficient of concentration, the quadratic term of concentration as well as the interaction between concentration and air pressure were demonstrated statistically significant. Optimal conditions, with an AFD of 138 nm, could be obtained in the SBS of zein fibers by combining a concentration of 23% (w/w), a feed rate of 0.04 mL/min and an air pressure of 0.38 MPa. The moisture sorption capacity of fibers increased slightly as AFD decreased from ∼550 to ∼200 nm, with an increase of BET surface area from 116.5 to 140.0 m /g.

Antimicrobial Carvacrol in Solution Blow‐Spun Fish‐Skin Gelatin Nanofibers

“…These suggested that the behavior of FFEs was dominated by the lecithin and the air–water interface might be saturated with lecithin molecules because it was the most surface‐active component in FFE. Although these decreases in surface tension would favor the formation of thinner and uniform nanofibers, those rheological properties related to the chain entanglement should also be considered (Liu et al., , ).…”

Solution Blow Spinning of Polycaprolactone—Rheological Determination of Spinnability and the Effect of Processing Conditions on Fiber Diameter and Alignment

“…SBS is used to produce fibrous polymer mats with a wide range of morphologies, controlled by a number of process parameters [32][33][34]. The characteristics of solution blow spun polymer fibrous mats, such as average fiber diameter and diameter distribution, fiber morphology, alignment, and porosity, are affected by the process parameters, such as polymer solution concentration, solvent type, and polymer-solvent molecular interactions, solution viscosity, air pressure, polymer solution feed rate, and collector rotational speed [35][36][37].…”

Effects of different alcohol and ultrasonic treatments on thermal and structural properties of zein‐starch sodium octenyl succinate composite nanoparticles

“…There is a variety of proteins that can be used to fabricate nanoparticles for delivery and emulsification systems, such as caseinate, soy proteins, whey proteins, and zein (Cheng, Mario, & Jones, 2019). Zein, as an inert macromolecule, has been exploited in numerous commercial applications using a wide variety of methods such as electrospinning (Wang et al, 2020), film-casting (Teerakarn et al, 2010), solution blow spinning (Liu et al, 2016), and electrospraying (Francisco et al, 2019;Kang et al, 2021), as well as the anti-solvent precipitation (ASP), liquid-liquid dispersion, electroplating (Joye et al, 2013), and anti-solvent nanoprecipitation technique (Pascoli et al, 2018). Nanoparticles prepared by electrospraying and anti-solvent precipitation have a spherical and compact morphology with the size distribution of 10-447 nm (Francisco et al, 2019;Jiang et al, 2019).…”