Effect of pH on electrospinning of poly(vinyl alcohol)

7 wt.% poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) solutions at various pH values from 2.0 to 12.9 were electrospun in order to investigate the effect of pH on the morphology and diameter of electrospun PVA. The average diameter of PVA fibers electrospun at pH 7.2 was 290 nm. Electrospun PVA fibers became straighter and finer with increasing pH under basic conditions, whereas the electrospinning of PVA solution was not continuous and PVA fibers with beads-on-string structures were obtained due to the protonation of PVA under acidic conditions.