Development of PVA Electrospun Nanofibers for Fabrication of Bacteriological Swabs

Published in Biology, vol. 12(11), 1404 (2023) · MDPI · Open access, CC BY
DOI: 10.3390/biology12111404

Summary

The pandemic made bacteriological swabs an object of mass consumption, and with that came an environmental problem: they are single-use and not biodegradable. A swab is a stick with an absorbent tip that must take up a sample and then release it again for analysis, so replacing the tip material means matching both functions. This study develops electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibres for that role, collected on a rotating drum of 30 mm - producing a tip whose fibrous structure governs uptake and release.

Authors & Affiliations

  • Roberta Pellegrino
    Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
  • Stefania Villani
    Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
  • Damiano Spagnolo
    Microbiotech S.r.l., Italy
  • Ilaria Carofalo
    Microbiotech S.r.l., Italy
  • Nicola Carrino
    Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
  • Matteo Calcagnile
    Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Italy

Linari Electrospinning Systems

Linari system with 30 mm rotating drum collector
The nanofibres were spun on a Linari Engineering S.r.l. system (Pisa, Italy) collecting onto a cylindrical rotating drum of 30 mm diameter - a small-diameter collector of the kind supplied with our Easy Drum rotary system, which accepts collectors from 1 to 100 mm.

Topics

Bacteriological Swabs Biodegradable Medical Consumables Sample Uptake and Release Industrial Collaboration

Materials

Poly(vinyl alcohol)
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