Role of Molecular Entanglements in Starch Fiber Formation by Electrospinning

Abstract

We have demonstrated a method of fabricating pure starch fibers with an average diameter in the order of micrometers. In the present study, correlation between the rheological properties of starch dispersions and the electrospinnability was attempted via the extrapolation of the critical entanglement concentration, which is the boundary between the semidilute unentangled regime and the semidilute entangled regime. Dispersions of high amylose starch containing nominally 80% amylose (Gelose 80) required 1.2-2.7 times the entanglement concentration for effective electrospinning. Besides starch concentration, molecular conformation, and shear viscosity were also of importance in determining the electrospinnability. The rheological properties and electrospinnability of different starches were studied. Hylon VII and Hylon V starches, containing nominally 70 and 50% amylose, respectively, required concentrations of 1.9 and 3.7 times their entanglement concentrations for electrospinning. Only poor fibers were obtained from mung bean starch, which contains about 35% amylose, while starches with even lower amylose contents could not be electrospun.

Rheology and pressurised gyration of starch and starch-loaded poly(ethylene oxide)

“…Several biopolymers including starch have been electrospun with excellent surface morphology (Kong & Ziegler, 2013;Matthews, Wnek, Simpson, & Bowlin, 2002;Huang et al, 2013). The electrospinnability of starch depends on the rheological properties and the amount of amylose/amylopectin content in the starch and the ratio of these two ingredients determines the stiffness or flexibility of the fibres (Kong & Ziegler, 2012). However, this method requires high voltage in the kV range and shows poor cost-yield efficiency as a single fibre emerges from the end of the nozzle carrying polymeric solution.…”

Investigation on Photoluminescence Behaviour of 2, 3-Diphenylquinoxalin-6-Vinyl Benzaldehyde

“…Starch is present in plants as semi crystalline granules which shape, size, morphology and composition (e.g. amylose/amylopectin ratio) will depend on the starch source and cultivation conditions [3,13]. The granules are composed of amylose or (1→4)-linked α-glucopyranose, a linear macromolecule responsible for starch's gelling properties [18], and amylopectin or (1→4)-linked α-glucopyranose with α-(1→6) branch linkages, a highly branched component that may form very weak gels [20].…”

“…While starch gelatinization is expected to occur below 100 °C (heating temperature of our starch dispersions) the transition from an helical to random coil conformation of starch molecules, which favors fiber formation, will only occur ~160 °C [12]. For this reason, native starch fibers have only been obtained by electro-wet-spinning technology from DMSO solutions [10,11,12,13] while electrospinning has only been possible using starch derivatives [15,34] or starch blends with synthetic polymers [29,30].…”

“…These authors concluded that sequential filtration steps were needed after GG purification to reduce the aggregates and improve fiber morphology. Pure starch fibers in turn, could only be obtained from Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) solutions using electro-wetspinning technology due to the non-volatile nature of the organic solvent [12,13]. Starch derivatives have also been electrospun from formic acid solutions [15,34] while composite fibers have been produced from blends of starch with non-food grade polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol [29] and polylactic acid [30].…”

Synthesis, antimicrobial activity, and release of tetracycline hydrochloride loaded poly(vinyl alcohol)/soybean protein isolate/zirconium dioxide nanofibrous membranes

“…Therefore, natural biopolymers have gained a lot of attention because of their excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. [13][14][15][16] Soybean protein isolate (SPI) is a biodegradable material extracted from soybeans, which contain more than 90% protein and 18 different amino acids. SPI is a potential substitute for petroleum-derived polymers because of its easy availability and functional properties.…”