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Updated: Aug 13, 2026
Electrospinning Fundamentals: Optimizing Solution and Apparatus Parameters
Published on: January 21, 2011
[Electrospinning and morphology of ultrafine poly (D, L-lactide) fibers]
Cunhai Dong1, Bin Duan, Xiaoyan Yuan
1School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
Abstract:
Ultrafine poly (D, L-lactide) (PLA) fibers with diameter less than 200 nm produced by electrospinning were studied to obtain tissue restoration resembling extracellular matrix. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the fiber morphology. Results showed that the solvent was the critical factor to determine the formation of the electrospun PLA fibers. Compared with acetone, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) was a better solvent for PLA to electrospin. Entrance of an organic salt, triethylbenzylammonium chlorate, led to a great increase of the conductivity of PLA/DMF solutions, so that the average fiber diameter of the electrospun PLA fibers decreased dramatically from 500 nm to 100-200 nm. The addition of surfactant, Span-80, did not improve the fiber morphology but formed beaded fiber web.
