Water resistance and morphology of electrospun gelatine blended with citric acid and coconut oil

Bio-polymer gelatine can be found in a broad variety of applications, mostly in the food industry. Moreover, it is used in the encapsulation of active pharmaceutical ingredients. In electrospinning, it is used for drug release, but can also strongly infl uence the morphologies of nanofi ber mats when blended with other polymers. In a recent project, we studied the infl uence of adding citric acid and coconut oil to gelatine electrospinning solutions. While the former can be used to modify gelatine nanofi ber diameters and create diverse morphologies between the fi bres and sprayed droplets of diff erent shapes, the latter results in an electrospraying process and additionally increases water resistance, suggesting a possible use of the combination for tailored drug release. Keywords: nanofi ber mat, water resistance, electrospraying