Nanofibrous Bio‐Textile From Tilapia Fish Gelatin Prepared Using Alternating Field Electrospinning

ABSTRACT

Nanofibers (NF) produced from warm‐water fish gelatin (W‐FGel) are expected to exhibit superior mechanical properties compared to their cold‐water fish gelatin (C‐FGel) counterparts due to their higher proline and hydroxyproline content, making W‐FGel nanofibrous materials potentially more advantageous for biomedical applications. In this study, W‐FGel nanofibrous nonwovens were fabricated at productivities of 3.1–5.4 g∙h ⁻¹ using alternating field electrospinning (AFES) and characterized primarily by SEM, FTIR, DSC, and tensile testing. The materials revealed fiber diameters ranging from 85 ± 21 to 240 ± 74 nm depending on the solvent system (5:1 to 1:4 H ₂ O/acetic acid volume ratio). As‐spun and crosslinked W‐FGel NF sheets subjected to different degrees of uniaxial compression revealed 10.0 ± 1.1–44 ± 4.84 g∙m ⁻² areal mass densities, tensile strengths of 0.14–8.1 MPa, elongations at break of 4.0%–65.0%, and porosities of 68.1%–98.7%. When adjusted for porosity, the mechanical properties matched or exceeded those of comparable C‐FGel NF materials. The crosslinked W‐FGel material with the smallest average fiber diameter also displayed higher 3T3 cell viability than a comparable AFES C‐FGel material in preliminary in vitro tests.