Fabrication and morphology control of poly(methyl methacrylate) hollow structures via coaxial electrospinning

A modified electrospinning method known as coaxial electrospinning was used to fabricate poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) hollow structures. In this study to understand morphology control, the effect of processing parameters such as concentration of polymer sheath solution, size of core/sheath capillaries, feed rate, and applied voltage had been evaluated. Morphological observations via scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that via the control of polymer concentration within the sheath solution, morphologies such as hollow particles and fibers could be obtained. With the use of fine core/sheath capillaries, micron hollow fibers with walls of less than 20 nm were obtained. This study has demonstrated how the investigated processing parameters have a direct influence on the structures and how these parameters have supported the notion that effective encapsulation process is the key to the dual layer bicomponent structures. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009