Electrospinning of poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) fibrous tissue engineering scaffolds in two different electric fields

Poly(hydroxybutyrate‐co‐hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) was electrospun into ultrafine fibrous nonwoven mats. Different from the conventional electrospinning process, which involves a positively charged conductive needle and a grounded fiber collector (i.e., positive voltage (PV) electrospinning), pseudo‐negative voltage (NV) electrospinning, which adopted a setup such that the needle was grounded and the fiber collector was positively charged, was investigated for making ultrafine PHBV fibers. For pseudo‐NV electrospinning, the effects of various electrospinning parameters on fiber morphology and diameter were assessed systematically. The average diameters of PHBV fibers electrospun via pseudo‐NVs were compared with those of PHBV fibers electrospun via PVs. With either PV electrospinning or pseudo‐NV electrospinning, the average diameters of electrospun fibers ranged between 500 nm and 4 μm, and they could be controlled by varying the electrospinning parameters. The scientific significance and technological implication of fiber formation by PV electrospinning and pseudo‐NV electrospinning in the field of tissue engineering were discussed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers