Summary
Chitosan is a highly attractive biopolymer for tissue-engineering scaffolds and wound dressings thanks to its biocompatibility, its ability to promote cell growth, and its antibacterial and immune-stimulating properties. However, pure chitosan is difficult to electrospin because its solutions are very viscous and polyelectrolytic. This study blends chitosan (3% in dilute acetic acid) with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO, 3% in water) at various mass ratios and examines how solution and process parameters govern fibre formation. The authors found that adding PEO is essential to make the chitosan solution spinnable: raising the PEO content lowered the viscosity, altered the rheology, improved spinnability and produced well-defined fibres with larger diameters. The work establishes practical chitosan/PEO formulations for producing biomedical nanofibre mats.