title: Resolving the electrospinnability zones and diameter prediction for the electrospinning of the gelatin/water/acetic acid system.
abstract: The development of suitable biomimetic scaffolds is a fundamental requirement of tissue engineering. Although electrospinning has emerged as an effective method for producing such scaffolds of nanometer-sized fibers, the influence of solution characteristics on the morphology of the resulting nanofibers depends on each polymer solution system. In this study, gelatin nanofibers and microfibers were prepared via electrospinning using mixtures of water and acetic acid at different ratios as solvents. The viscosities of gelatin solutions before electrospinning were analyzed and two different behaviors were found as a function of the solvent composition, taking into account classic models of polymer science. A power law relationship between viscosity and gelatin concentration was found for each solvent system, and an empirical model including the influence of acetic acid was obtained for aqueous systems. Moreover, a ternary diagram considering gelatin, water, and acetic acid mass fractions was constructed as a tool to establish the electrospinnability domains in terms of fiber occurrence and morphology. Also, the isodiametric curves were defined in the fibers region. Finally, in order to correlate the diameter of electrospun nanofibers and the electrospinnability zones, the Berry number was used. However, as its only allows the range of electrospinnability to be established for a fixed solvent composition, a new dimensionless parameter (Bemod) was suggested to take into account all the acetic acid aqueous solutions as a single solvent.
authors.affiliation: INTEXTER- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya , Colom 15, 08222, Terrassa, Spain.
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erencia
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cano
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Tornero
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Macanás
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carrillo
mesh_terms: D019342:Acetic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012997:Solvents; D014867:Water; D005780:Gelatin; D019342:Acetic Acid