Electrospinning of agar/PVA aqueous solutions and its relation with rheological properties

In this work, we report the successful fabrication of agar-based nanofibers by electrospinning technique, using water as solvent media. A tubeless spinneret was attached inside the electrospinning chamber, operating at 50 C, to avoid agar gelation. Agar pure solution (1 wt%) showed inadequate spinnability regardless of the used electrospinning conditions. The addition of a co-blending polymer such as PVA (10 wt% starting solution) improved the solutions viscoelasticity and hence, the solutions spinnability. Agar/PVA solutions were prepared with different mass ratios (10010, 50150, 40160, 30170, 20180 and 01100) and electrospun at various sets of electrospinning conditions. Best nanofibers were obtained with 30170 and 20180 agar/PVA blends while samples with higher agar contents (50150 and 40160 agar/PVA) were harder to process and led to discontinuous fibrous mats. This first set of encouraging results can open a new window of opportunities for agar-based biomaterials in the form of nanofibers. Published by Elsevier Ltd.