title: Biocompatible sodium alginate fibers by aqueous processing and physical crosslinking.
abstract: Sodium alginate (SA) hybrid fibers have been robustly fabricated by electrospinning of aqueous mixtures containing as high as 60% SA in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Solution viscosities of SA, PVA and their mixtures showed fiber spinning to be strongly influenced by the balance between SA-PVA and PVA-PVA intermolecular polar interaction and SA-SA repulsion. Low viscosity SAl (50 mPas at 1%) enabled higher SA loadings without significantly increasing mixture viscosities, producing more cylindrical fibers. All aqueous mixtures containing 33.3-60% SAl (5.68-7.15% total SAl-PVA) had viscosities ranging from 530 to 3600 mPas and could be electrospun continuously for at least 48 h. The SA-PVA hybrid fibers had diameters ranging from ca. 140 to 350 nm and were rendered stable in water via simultaneous ionic-crosslinking SA and crystallization of PVA (5% CaCl2 in 75% EtOH for 30 min). This aqueous electrospinning and physical crosslinking approach is a green and highly efficient alternative to create alginate hybrid fibers that are biologically compatible and ingestible for potential biomedical, food and other applications.
authors: Fiber and Polymer Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Shen
authors: Fiber and Polymer Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: ylhsieh@ucdavis.edu.
authors: You-Lo
authors: YL
authors: Hsieh
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D020723:Glucuronic Acid
keywords: Aqueous; Electrospinning; Green processing; Physical cross-linking; Sodium alginate