Multifactorial evaluation of an ultra-fast process for electrospinning of recycled expanded polystyrene to manufacture high-efficiency membranes for nanoparticle air filtration.

The increased production of polystyrene waste has led to the need to find efficient ways to dispose of it. One possibility is the use of solid waste to produce filter media by the electrospinning technique. The aim of this work was to develop an ultra-fast electrospinning process applied to recycled polystyrene, with statistical evaluation of the influence of polymeric solution parameters (polymer concentration and percentage of DL-limonene) and process variables (flow rate, voltage, and type of support) on nanoparticle collection efficiency, air permeability, and fiber diameter.

Core-sheath nanostructured chitosan-based nonwovens as a potential drug delivery system for periodontitis treatment.

Core-sheath nanofibers were successfully prepared via coaxial electrospinning by using chitosan with well-defined structural characteristics as the shell layer and poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) containing tetracycline hydrochloride (TH) as the core layer. The effects of the average degree of deacetylation (DD‾) of chitosan and the post-electrospinning genipin crosslinking on physicochemical and biological properties of resulting nonwovens were evaluated. Defect-free and geometrically uniform nanofibers with diameters predominantly in the range of 100-300 nm were prepared, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed the core-sheath structures and its preservation after crosslinking.