Browsing by Subject "Electrospinning parameters"

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    ItemOpen Access
    Biocatalytic protein membranes fabricated by electrospinning
    (Elsevier B.V., 2016) Kabay, G.; Kaleli, G.; Sultanova, Z.; Ölmez, T. T.; Şeker, U. Ö. Ş.; Mutlu, M.
    In this study, a protein-based catalytic membrane was produced by electrospinning. Membrane activity was characterised in terms of response current for various glucose concentrations. We focused on the preparation of a scaffold by converting a globular protein to other structural forms using catastrophic solvents. A scaffolding protein, bovine serum albumin, and an enzyme, glucose oxidase (GOD), were selected as a model natural carrier matrix and a biologically active agent, respectively. Beta-mercaptoethanol (β-ME) was used to convert the globular protein to an amyloid-like form. A structural stabilising agent, 2,2,2-triflouroethanol (TFE), was used to maintain the final α-helical structure of the amyloid-like protein. The TFE:PBS (phosphate-buffered saline) ratio and various electrospinning parameters were analysed to minimise activity loss. Using this approach, we applied electrospinning to an active enzyme to obtain biocatalytic nanofibrous membranes. After optimising the protein electrospinning process, the activities of the protein nanofibrous membranes were monitored. GOD remained active in the new membrane structure. The highest enzyme activity was observed for the membranes prepared with a 1.5:1 (v:v) TFE:PBS solvent ratio. In that particular case, the immobilized enzyme created a current of 0.7 μA and the apparent activity was 2547 ± 132 U/m2.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Electrospinning of gelatin with tunable fiber morphology from round to flat/ribbon
    (Elsevier, 2017) Topuz, F.; Uyar, T.
    The electrospinning of gelatin with tunable fiber morphology from round to flat/ribbon was shown, and the detailed studies were conducted to correlate the fiber morphology with electrospinning process parameters and gelatin concentration in electrospinning solution. Particularly, variations in the applied voltage and the concentration of gelatin led to the transition of fiber shape from round to flat/ribbon. The formation of flat-shaped fibers was attributed to rapid evaporation of the solvent (formic acid) from the fiber matrix with increasing the applied voltage and gelatin concentration. On the other hand, round fibers were due to the steady evaporation of formic acid throughout the cross-section of fibers. WAXS analysis revealed that the loss of triple-helical crystalline structure in gelatin after the electrospinning process. The gelatin fibers were cross-linked through treatment with toluene 2,4-diisocyanate (TDI) in a mixed solution of acetone and pyridine, and XPS confirmed the cross-linking of the fibers over an increased carbon content on the elemental composition of the fiber surface due to the incorporated TDI moieties. Overall, this study focuses on morphological tuning of gelatin electrospun fibers towards a flat/ribbon-like structure by variation of electrospinning parameters and polymer concentration, and thus, the proposed concept can be adapted towards flattened/ribbon-like fibers of other protein-based systems by electrospinning.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Systematic hydrolysis of PIM-1 and electrospinning of hydrolyzed PIM-1 ultrafine fibers for an efficient removal of dye from water
    (Elsevier, 2017-12) Satilmis, B.; Budd, P. M.; Uyar, Tamer
    In this study, the Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIM-1) was systematically hydrolyzed in the presence of sodium hydroxide by varying the concentration of base, washing procedure and the time of the reaction. The chemical structure analyses confirmed that PIM-1 could be hydrolyzed by 65% up to 99% conversion depending on the synthesis procedure. The hydrolyzed PIM-1 samples have shown improved solubility which facilitates the fabrication of hydrolyzed PIM-1 ultrafine fibers by electrospinning technique. Extensive optimization studies were performed for the electrospinning of uniform and bead-free fibers from hydrolyzed PIM-1 with different degree of hydrolysis (65%, 86%, 94% and 99%). The electrospun hydrolysed PIM-1 fibrous samples have average fiber diameters (AFD) ranging from 0.58 ± 0.15 μm to 1.21 ± 0.15 μm, depending on the polymer concentration and applied electrospinning parameters. After electrospinning, self-standing hydrolyzed PIM-1 fibrous membranes were obtained which is useful as a filtering material for the adsorption of organic dyes from wastewater. Here, the capability of hydrolyzed PIM-1 electrospun fibrous membranes for the removal of dyes from aqueous solutions was investigated by using a batch adsorption process. The maximum adsorption capacity of fully hydrolyzed PIM-1 fibers was found 157 ± 16 mg g− 1 for Methylene Blue and 4 mg g− 1 for Congo red when the adsorption was conducted by 20 mg L− 1 dye solution without using any dilution. Moreover, maximum dye adsorption was also studied by using concentrated Methylene Blue solutions showing up to 272 mg g− 1 adsorption maximum. In addition, the self-standing fibrous hydrolyzed PIM-1 membrane was employed to separate Methylene Blue from an aqueous system by filtration without the necessity of additional driving force. The results indicate that hydrolyzed PIM-1 electrospun nanofibrous membranes can be a promising filtering material for wastewater treatment