Preparation of electrospun fibers from aqueous lysozyme and maltodextrin blends and fiber morphology

The objective was to prepare fibers from an aqueous solution of maltodextrin DE2 (MD) and lysozyme (LYS) by needleless electrospinning and their characteristic morphological properties were investigated. The different conditions were 80, 85, or 90 g MD and 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 g LYS plus 100 g of ultrapure water. The electrospinning rate and yield, the protein concentrations in the spinning solution and fibers, and the fiber diameter were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The highest spinning rate was observed in spinning solution using 80 g MD and 20 g LYS (80-20) with 7.6 ± 0.03 g/h. The lowest spinning rate was 1.93 ± 0.01 g/h for 80-15 (MD/LYS). The determination of the protein content in the spinning solution and in the fibers showed that there is a difference between fibers and solutions. The difference between the protein concentration in the solution to the fibers ranged from 7.9 % to 13.5 % (80-10, 85-10 and 90-10) from 13.7 % to 11.8 % (80-25, 85-25 and 90-25). The SEM images showed that the blend (85-10) had the smallest diameter of 3.63 ± 1.18 μm, while the blend (90-25) had the largest diameter of 5.95 ± 4.03 μm. The fibers with the highest protein content (80-25, 85-25, and 90-25) had larger diameters than the fibers with the lowest protein content (80-5, 85-5, and 90-5). The structure and surface of the fibers were mostly smooth, with occasional bead formation and thicker or thinner areas within a fiber. FTIR analysis showed no further chemical reaction between MD and LYS in the fibers. • Lysozyme was successfully incorporated into the fibers. • Needleless electrospinning of maltodextrin and lysozyme leads to high yields. • The viscosity increases more with the amount of maltodextrin in the lysozyme blends. • Electrospun blend fibers with the most protein had the biggest diameters.