Supercritical CO2 Assisted Electrospray to Produce Poly(lactic-co-glycolic Acid) Nanoparticles

Abstract

This work proposes an improvement of the traditional electrospraying process, in which supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) is used to produce poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles. The experiments were performed at different PLGA concentrations (1, 3 and 5% w/w), applied voltages (10 and 30 kV) and operating pressures (80, 120 and 140 bar). It was found that working at 140 bar and 30 kV, spherical nanoparticles, with mean diameters of 101 ± 13 nm and 151 ± 45 nm, were obtained, when solutions at 1% w/w and 3% w/w PLGA were electrosprayed, respectively. Increasing PLGA concentration up to 5% w/w, a mixture of fibers and particles was observed, indicating the transition to the electrospinning regime.

Supercritical-CO2-Assisted Electrospray for the Production of the PLA-Antibiotic-Sustained Drug-Delivery System

“…During our previous studies [25][26][27][28], polymer concentration was the key factor in determining particle size that enlarged with a polymer concentration increase; the particle morphology varied from spherical to elongated upon concentration decrease due to the occurrence of the Coulomb fission phenomenon. In this study, instead, only a slight increase in the average particle diameters occurred.…”

“…Therefore, Guastaferro et al [25][26][27][28] produced biopolymeric particles, whose diameters ranged from nanometric up to submicrometric dimensions, using an evolution of the traditional electrospray configuration, i.e., the SC-CO 2 -assisted electrospray. It allowed to process a solution flow rate increased up to one thousand times with respect to the traditional electrospray due to the application of a main disruptive force (i.e., CO 2 pressure).…”

“…For these reasons, the aim of this study is the production of PLA-based particles using the innovative SC-CO 2 -assisted electrospray, to demonstrate the overcoming of the previously discussed limitations of the traditional configurations [25][26][27][28]. The effect of the main processing parameters was investigated, such as polymer concentration and pressure.…”

In situ Formation of Polymer Microparticles in Bacterial Nanocellulose Using Alternative and Sustainable Solvents to Incorporate Lipophilic Drugs

“…Microfluidic devices are currently gaining attention due to the mild processing conditions, scalability, and precise control over the resulting particle size and shape [ 20 ]. Phase inversion from supercritical fluids favors the advantage of the rapid formation of polymer membranes and particles and the complete extraction of the applied solvent [ 21 , 22 ]. However, these processes are more difficult to scale up and require high initial investments for the manufacturing process [ 23 ].…”