Zein nanofibers via deep eutectic solvent electrospinning: tunable morphology with super hydrophilic properties

Abstract

The use of organic solvents for the preparation of nanofibers are challenged due to their volatile and hazardous behavior. Recently deep eutectic solvents (DES) are widely recognized as non-volatile and non-hazardous solvents which never been utilized directly for nanofabrication via electrospinning. Here, we present the preparation of Zein nanofibers using deep eutectic solvents (DES-Zein). The DES-Zein nanofibers were produced at an optimized polymer concentration of 45% (w/w) with pH 7.3 and electroconductivity 233 mS cm−1. DES-Zein nanofibers showed aligned to tweed like cedar leaf morphology tuned by varying the spreading angle from 0° to 90°. In contrast to hydrophobic conventional Zein nanofibers, DES-Zein nanofibers showed super hydrophilic character and about 200 nm finer average diameter. The proposed method of preparing Zein nanofibers using DES opens a new door to continuous electrospinning with tunable morphology, having potential to be used for environmental and biomedical applications.

Fabrication of Poly(Ethylene-glycol 1,4-Cyclohexane Dimethylene-Isosorbide-Terephthalate) Electrospun Nanofiber Mats for Potential Infiltration of Fibroblast Cells

“…In this report, we cultured fibroblast cells on PEICT nanofibers for the very first time, therefore, it was necessary to check the surface wetting properties as one of the important parameters for cell adhesion [27,30]. PEICT ENMs were assessed by the water contact angle (WCA) test [18,36]. Compared to the previous reports on the WCA of PEICT ENMs (114 • ) [4], the contact angle observed in this study was slightly higher than 120 • , where the obvious reason for this was the similar frequency of the nanofibers' average diameter, which provided a regular surface with finer fibers that led the water droplet being stable for a certain time prior to starting adsorption on PEICT ENMs.…”

“…Electrospun nanofiber mats (ENMs), due to their high surface area, ease of production, fiber network interconnection, biocompatibility, breathability, and resemblance to natural extracellular matrix have been potentially considered for cell culture applications viz cell adhesion, cell migration, and cell viability [10][11][12][13]. In parallel, ENMs have been utilized in several applications including sensors [14], wound dressing [10], drug delivery [5], tissue engineering [15], smart apparels [16,17] high performance filters (water, bacteria, virus, heavy metal, and such impurities) [18][19][20][21]. Depending on the required application, cell adhesion and cell migration behaviors may differ due to the difference in cell size, type, or the culturing surface [4,6].…”

Synthesis and characterization of a novel rigid rod polymer based on 2,6‐dihydroxyterephthalic acid and 2,3,5,6‐tetraminopyridine

“…The peaks at 1628 and 1578 cm −1 were attributed to the stretching vibration of CO on amido bond and the deformation vibration of NH on amido bond, respectively. Besides the peak at 1400 cm −1 could be assigned to the stretching vibration of CN on amido bond, and the bending vibration of OH can be observed at 1384 cm −1 In addition, the characteristic peaks of CO on phenolic hydroxyl groups also appear at 1070 cm −1 22 . These results show that there are amide bonds in the synthesized polymer, which proves the successful polymerization of PPDA polymer.…”

Influence of starch nanocrystals on sisal fiber/starch composites compatibilized by glutaraldehyde

“…To study the interfacial properties of sisal/starch composites, the morphologies 37 of surface and cross‐section of TPS, ASF/TPS, ASF/G/TPS and ASF/G/S3/TPS are observed via SEM. Figure 4a displays the surface morphology of TPS.…”