A poly(vinylalcohol) (PVA) electrospun/magnetic/chitosan nanocomposite fibrous cross-linked network was fabricated using in situ cross-linking electrospinning technique and used for bovine serum albumin (BSA) loading and release applications. Sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) and glutaraldehyde (GA) were used as cross-linkers which modified magnetic-Fe3O4 chitosan as Fe3O4/CS/TPP and Fe3O4/CS/GA, respectively. BSA was used as a model protein drugs which was encapsulated to form Fe3O4/CS/TPP/BSA and Fe3O4/CS/GA/BSA nanoparticles. The composites were electrospun with PVA to form nanofibers. Nanofibers were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The characterization results suggest that Fe3O4 nanoparticles with average size of 45 nm were successfully bound on the surface of chitosan. The cross-linked nanofibers were found to contain uniformly dispersed Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The size and morphology of the nanofibers network was controlled by varying the cross-linker type. FTIR data show that these two polymers have intermolecular interactions. The sample with TPP cross-linker showed an enhancement of the controlled release properties of BSA during 30-h experimental investigation. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.
Keywords: cross-linker; electrospun; magnetite; mano-composite; protein loading.