Electrospinning of keratin/poly(ethylene oxide) blend nanofibers

Research on the electrospinning of nanofibers has increased in recent years because of the number of potential applications in different areas, ranging from technical textiles (e.g., filters, composite reinforcements, and protective fabrics) to biomedical commodities and devices such as bandages, membranes, bioactive surfaces, and porous substrates for tissue engineering, for which biocompatible polymers play an essential role. In this work, wool keratin/poly(ethylene oxide) nanofibers were electrospun from aqueous solutions of polymer blends under different operating conditions. The filaments were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, and differential scanning calorimetry analyses and compared with films of the same materials produced via casting with the aim of investigating structural changes due to the electrospinning process. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.