title: Electrospinning of commercial guar-gum: Effects of purification and filtration.
abstract: Guar gums of two different commercial sources were successfully electrospun on both mica and copper tape at several concentrations starting from 1% (w/w). The electrospun fibers formed with the raw materials were not uniform and presented aggregates and beads within the fibers. Two different purification procedures and a filtration sequence with different pore size membranes were applied to enhance galactomannan solution homogeneity and solubility. The consequence was improved fiber morphology. We observed that the precipitation step, within the purification procedure, produced changes in the molar mass distribution and yielded different fiber diameter. Furthermore, spherical aggregates between fibers and within them disappeared after the sequential filtration. The resulting electrospun fiber diameter decreased with membrane pore diameter reduction. We conclude that the filtration process is responsible for molecular disentanglement, as well as disaggregation, which leads to improved electrospun galactomannan fiber morphology.
authors.affiliation: LITS, Physics Department, Universidade Federal do Paraná, P.O. Box 19044, Centro Politecnico, Curitiba, Brazil. af.lubambo@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Adriana F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Lubambo
authors.forename: Rilton A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: de Freitas
authors.forename: Maria-R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Sierakowski
authors.forename: Neoli
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lucyszyn
authors.forename: Guilherme L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Sassaki
authors.forename: Bruno M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Serafim
authors.forename: Cyro Ketzer
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Saul
mesh_terms: D000538:Aluminum Silicates / Q000737:chemistry; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D011232:Chemical Precipitation; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods*; D005685:Galactans / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008351:Mannans / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D053149:Plant Gums / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D016062:Porosity; D012995:Solubility
chemical_list: D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D005685:Galactans; D008351:Mannans; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D053149:Plant Gums; D010940:Plant Proteins; D003300:Copper; C007894:guar gum; C011934:mica