The Effect of Adding Alginate Natural Polymer on the Structure of Polyvinyl Alcohol Biocompatible Nanofibers in Electrospinning Process

Background: Nowadays, in order to preserve the environment and sustainable development, the use of natural and renewable resources is a priority for industries. High performance and specific structure of nano-biocompatible materials has attracted researchers. In this research, alginate polymer, which is generally obtained from marine sources such as algae, was added to polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers in order to improve their biocompatibility and investigate the effect of solution parameters on their morphology. Materials and Methods: Polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers were produced in different concentrations by electrospinning to investigate the effect of concentration, adding alginate polymer and Triton x-100 surfactant. The quality of nanofibers and rheology behavior of polymer solutions were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy, rheometry and tensiometer. Results: The results showed that increasing the concentration of polymer solution increased the diameter of nanofibers, as well as the viscosity of the polymer solution, such that a polyvinyl alcohol solution with 10wt.% concentration produced more uniform nanofibers. At first, adding alginate to the polyvinyl alcohol solution deteriorated electrospinning, however, production of nanofibers was improved by increasing polyvinyl alcohol solution to 10wt.%. Also, the results showed that adding Triton x-100 surfactant to the polymer solution affected the dominant mechanism in electrospinning by reducing surface tension and viscosity of the solution at polyvinyl alcohol solution 6wt.% and 10wt.%, respectively. Conclusion: Under optimized conditions of solution parameters, suitable nanofibers will be produced, which will be applicable in many industries, such as drug delivery.