Development of UV-Reactive Electrospinning Method Based on Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate Crosslinking

Electrospinning is a popular method for creating nonwoven fiber materials for a wide variety of applications. In the field of biomaterials, electrospun materials are favoured because of a high surface-to-volume ratio which can be useful for drug loading and release, and because nanoscale fibers mimic native tissue structures, improving cell interactions. However limitations exist with regards to traditional solvent evaporation-based electrospinning techniques. A new area of research into reactive electrospinning is investigating methods of electrospinning that rely on in situ crosslinking rather than solvent evaporation to stabilize fibers. These techniques can potentially reduce the waste of excess solvents and make it easier to electrospin water soluble polymers. In this work, UV photocrosslinked PEGDA is evaluated as a material for reactive electrospinning. To facilitate the electrospinning process poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) is combined with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). PEGDA/PVA solutions can be successfully electrospun under constant UV light exposure to initiate the crosslinking of the PEGDA. Reactive electrospun fibers appear more stable immediately after spinning and after washing with water, indicating successful photo crosslinking