Applied Sciences

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 1844

[논문]Non-Toxic Natural Additives to Improve the Electrical Conductivity and Viscosity of Polycaprolactone for Melt Electrospinning

Jee Woo Kim, Kyungsoon Park, Byung-Kwon Kim

김지우, 박경순, 김병권

Seong ho Park

Polycaprolactone (PCL) is biodegradable and non-toxic, making it an eco-friendly polymer
with various medical applications. In order to increase the stability of PCL used in the field of medical
applications, it is necessary to be able to produce fibers with a melt electrospinning method that does
not use toxic hydrophobic solvents. However, PCL has very high viscosity and low conductivity, making
melt electrospinning difficult. This study presents natural additives enabling the solvent-free melt
electrospinning of PCL, wherein the physical properties (i.e., conductivity and viscosity) of the additive-mixed
PCL are analyzed. Among the natural additives added to PCL, 7 wt% gallic acid increased
conductivity by 81 times and decreased viscosity by 1/8526 times, showing the best results. We believe
that our study, improving the physical properties of melt PCL by adding natural additives, will be of
great help to the development of the melt electrospinning method of PCL.

2023.01.31

https://doi.org/10.3390/app13031844