Aleksandra Bandzerewicz1, Adrian Chlanda2, Miroslav Slouf3, Piotr Denis4, Agnieszka Gadomska-Gajadhur1
1. Faculty of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
2. Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Microelectronics and Photonics, Department of Chemical Synthesis and Flake Graphene, Warsaw, Poland
3. Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
4. Laboratory of Polymers and Biomaterials, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Biomaterials based on citric acid have shown potential to be used as blood vessel and skin tissue substitutes. The successful commercialization of implants containing poly(octamethylene citrate) provides grounds for exploring polycitrates based on other diols. Changing the aliphatic chain length of the diol allows functional design strategies to control the implant's mechanical and surface properties and its degradation profile. The aim of this work was to obtain electrospun nonwovens by mixing PLA with different poly(diol citrates) to study how the diol chain length influences the material properties. Poly(dimethylene citrate), poly(tetramethylene citrate) and poly(hexamethylene citrate) were synthesized and blended with PLA to produce nonwovens via electrospinning. The nonwovens were studied and characterized using various methods: SEM, AFM, water contact angle measurement, DSC, TGA, and degradation tests. The materials appeared porous in structure with well-developed, evenly distributed fibres with no apparent structural defects. Surface properties were analysed on the basis of water contact angle and AFM imaging, which showed somewhat contrasting results. The surface character of this type of material can be classified variously, depending on the level (macro/micro) of determination. Nevertheless, the effect of adding poly(diol citrate) to fibre-forming PLA is evident and varies depending on the diol used. However, studies have shown the problem of the incompatibility of polycitrates with PLA, which results in instability of the system in the aqueous medium and leaching of the oligomeric chains from the structure. The hydrolytic degradation of polyester nonwovens is relatively rarely reported in the literature but is a crucial issue in terms of their biomedical application.