The influence of sonication of poly(ethylene oxide) solutions to the quality of resulting electrospun nanofibrous mats

The quality of electrospun nanofibrous mats is significantly subject to the preparation method of entry polymer solutions whose homogenization is usually carried out by magnetic stirring, vibrational shaking, sonication or their combination. Among them, an application of sonication can lead to remarkable changes of solution characteristics accompanying polymer degradation. This is further propagated in morphological changes of the corresponding electrospun nanofibrous mats. This contribution evaluates these changes for the solutions of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) in water in dependence on concentration and time of sonication. To this aim, the measurements of rheological characteristics, conductivity and surface tension were carried out, and GPC (gel permeation chromatography) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) techniques were applied. As the mean diameter of electrospun nanofibres is proportional to the value of viscosity, a master curve for viscosity regarding time of sonication and PEO concentration was proposed. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.