Development of electrospun PVA nanofibers via freeze-thawing method

Abstract

The polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogels are proven to have the benefits of improving water retention ability, cell attachment and controlled drug release in medical device materials for pharmaceutical applications. Due to these promising potentials, the addition of electrospinning technology to hydrogels is an ideal combination to allow the properties of the materials to be further tailored [1]. In this study, PVA electrospun nanofibers were found to be very hard to handle and fragile without using any chemically or physically crosslinking method. It is believed that the PVA nanofibers underwent simple freezethawing process can introduce crystallisation and further increase its mechanical properties [2]. In addition, higher PVA crystallinity can provide a slower drug release rate. Propolis is being selected as the active pharmaceutical ingredient to investigate the wound repair process because it has abundant phenolic compounds, particularly the antioxidant component, flavonoids that can speed up the healing process.