Fabrication of Electrospun Polycaprolactone Nanofibers for Drug Delivery Application and Development of an Electrospinnability Map

ABSTRACT The interdependence of solution parameters, process parameters, and environmental parameters warrants a careful optimization of them for the fabrication of polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers by electrospinning. A new combination of chloroform (CF)/ethyl alcohol (EtOH)/formic acid (FA) (9:1:0.1) is explored for electrospinning of PCL nanofibers for the first time. The study aims to optimize the conditions for the fabrication of PCL nanofibers for the proposed solvent mixture and develop an electrospinnability map for the first time. The fabricated PCL nanofibers were evaluated for their characteristic properties, water absorption capacity, in vitro degradation, and cytotoxicity. The PCL nanofibers were loaded with 1 wt.% tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) (relative to the mass of PCL), and the release profile of TCH in phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) (pH: 7.40) at 37°C was evaluated. A combination of 10 wt.% PCL, CF/EtOH/FA (9:1:0.1), 15 kV, a working distance of 15 cm, a flow rate of 1 mL/h, 27°C, and 45% relative humidity (RH) are identified as optimum conditions for the generation of uniform and continuous PCL nanofibers. The drug release profile revealed that the TCH‐loaded PCL nanofibers will be useful for drug delivery applications where a burst release of antibiotics is required, particularly for postsurgery treatments.