Oriented Micro and Nanofibers Containing Polyethylene Oxide and Pectin

Abstract

The use of biocompatible materials in the formation of oriented fibers opens the possibility to obtain engineered tissues that can be used in medicine, environmental engineer, security and defense, among other applications. Pectin is a heteropolysaccharide that besides being biocompatible is biodegradable and bioactive. In this work the formation of oriented fibers using solutions containing different amounts of pectin, polyethylene oxide, and chloroform is investigated. The injection of solution inside an intense electric field defined between two floating parallel electrodes was used to obtain the fibers. This approach is a modification of the conventional electrospinning process. The presence of pectin in the fibers was confirmed by FTIR analysis. Fibers with diameters of hundreds of nanometers can be collected. The incorporation of pectin leads to a higher variation of the fibers diameter, resulting in the collection of more fibers with an increased diameter, in the range of micrometers.