Optimization of polylactic acid-based medical textiles via electrospinning for healthcare apparel and personal protective equipment

Development of sustainable and eco-friendly non-woven textiles is essential to produce environmentally benign personal protective equipment (PPE) for reduction of risk in transmission and infection of bacteria and virus. This study demonstrates about the fabrication of medical textile from polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymer via electrospinning process. Solvent systems from single to binary in different ratios and the operational parameters of electrospinning, i.e. voltage, solution flow rate and distance to collector, were studied to investigate the influence on nanofiber morphology, diameter and electrospinnability. Effects of substrates and electrospinning techniques such as multi-spinneret and wire spinneret were further investigated for scale-up textile production. Thermal properties were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Viscosity and conductivity of polymer solutions were measured. Nanofiber morphology and diameter were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that binary-solvents DMF/acetone (4:6 v/v) and DMAc/acetone (2:8 v/v) gave finest defect-free fibers and electrospinnability. Polymer concentration of 10–12.5% w/v resulted in defect-free nanofibers. Electrospinning parameters were optimum at a voltage of 25 KV, collector distance of 250 mm and flow rate of 1 mL/h. Optimization of solvents and electrospinning parameters improved mean fiber diameter from 929 ± 670 nm to 315 ± 246 nm. In summary, DMF/acetone solvent system was considered the optimized candidate for PLA electrospinning, effective on non-woven substrates and achieved high nanofiber textile productivity of 180 cm²/min with needleless wire spinneret system. The nanofiber textile has high sub-micron particulate filtration efficiency of 80% and 95% with single and dual layers respectively.