Effect of Curcumin Content on Morphology of Electrospun Polyvinyl Alcohol/Curcumin Nanofibrous Scaffolds Targeted for Wound Healing Applications

Incorporating curcumin in biocompatible electrospun polymeric membrane can fetch numerous applications in the biomedical field, especially in wound healing. However, the bioavailability of curcumin is limited and there is a need to study the effect of increased curcumin content on development of such electrospun composites. This study investigates the effect of nanocurcumin concentration on electrospinning of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibrous scaffolds. PVA/Curcumin composites are developed for different concentrations varying from 0.2 wt.% (low) to 8.3 wt.% (high) in 10 ml of ethanol-DI water mixture. The electrospinning process parameters were systematically varied to evaluate the influence of curcumin on the electrospinning and morphology of the PVA nanofibers. Scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy were used to study the morphology of fibers. It is observed that higher content of curcumin does effect in the architecture of the membrane. One can comfortably incorporate up to 1 wt.% of nanocurcumin without affecting the fiber morphology. Any further increase to enhance bioavailability will impact membrane morphology, requiring a trade-off between architecture and performance.