Water soluble levan polysaccharide biopolymer electrospun fibers

Electrospinning has been used to prepare nanofibers from diverse biopolymers. Here we report on preparation of fibers by electrospinning of levan (a polysaccharide) from distilled water. A high concentration of levan was required for fiber formation. This suggests that higher concentrations enable the formation of chain entanglements required to maintain the jet strength. in general, fiber diameter decreased with increased voltage, distance between collector plate and needle and decreased pump flow rate. X-ray diffraction of the fibers showed a highly amorphous character in levan formed from solution compared to the levan powder. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.