Coaxial electrospinning of PVA/Nigella seed oil nanofibers: Processing and morphological characterization

Highlights: • The coaxial electrospinning parameters have significant effects on the nanofiber morphology. • SEM micrographs revealed homogeneous and lesser bead nanofibers with the use of 18 to 20% PVA concentrations. • Increase of viscosity with the increase of PVA concentration might be the major cause for the microdroplets formation. • The stability of the Taylor Cone is the critical and controlling factor. • The coaxial electrospinning technique is extensively controllable and tunable process. One of the most promising nanostructures, core/shell structured co-axially electrospun nanofibers have been widely used in many applications such as self-healing, wound dressing/healing, drug and gene delivery and tissue engineering. Core/shell structured nanofibers have generally been produced using the coaxial electrospinning method. In this study, the coaxial electrospinning using the double injectors technique was applied for investigating the processing parameters for the PVA/Nigella seed oil solutions affecting the core/shell nanofiber morphology. Results showed that the processing parameters, such as the flow rate, voltage difference and solution concentration had significant effects on the core/shell nanofiber morphology. Nanofiber morphologies were characterized using SEM-Scanning Electron Microscopy techniques.