Microstructural Study of Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Nano-Fiberous Bio-Scaffold from Global Data

For nano-fibrous bio-scaffolds like wound dresses, control of microstructural factors such as fiber diameter, number, and size of cells is important. In this study, the microstructure is investigated from data from BET and density tests. The voltage of the electrospinning process is one of the most important parameters for the control of the microstructure. To study a wider voltage range, the existing electrospinning device is upgraded to 70 kV. In this research, the samples are spun from two types of polymers of different molecular weights in the range of 20 to 40 kV. For increasing biocompatibility and biodegradability, the polymers are purified with the phase separation method. This purification is investigated with FT-IR and melting point tests. The result of the study of the microstructure shows that, as the electrospinning voltage increases, firstly, the diameter of the fiber increases, the number of cells decreases, and the size of the cell increases. Then, the diameter of the fibers  decreased, the number of cells increased and the size of the cells decreased. In most electrospinning voltages, the mats produced from higher molecular weight polymer have a smaller fiber, a larger cell number, and a smaller cell size. But in the voltage of 25 and 40 kV, the mats have inverse results. The FT-IR and melting point results show that the phase separation method is effective for purification. Finally, it can be said that the effect of the voltage on the microstructure parameter up to 30 kV is different thereafter.