Electrospun PLA : PCL/ halloysite nanotube nanocomposites fibers for drug delivery

This research work focused on PLA and blends of PLA with poly ( -caprolactone) and that are reinforced with two different concentration of halloysite nanotubes (HNT) and different kind of co-solvent for electrospinning (chloroform: acetone), (chloroform: methanol) and (dichloromethane: N,N, dimethylformamide). Fiber properties were found to be related to the viscosity and conductivity of the bulk solution. Initial results showed that the fiber surface morphology is strongly dependent on the solution mixture and HNT amounts. The uniform bi-component PLA–PCL fibers were obtained and also the fiber diameter was found to be dependent on the content of PLA–PCL, type of co-solvents and HNT amount. Solution viscosity, conductivity and solvent volatility were the key factor that controlled the fiber diameter in the electrospinning. Further results evidently presented that raising the PCL amount in blends reduces the solution viscosity and higher viscosity led to fibers with larger diameters. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and DSC have been used to characterise these bionanocomposites and a simple process relationship was proposed to offer better understanding on the structure-property relationship of these advanced materials.