This study focuses on combining the synthetic polymer poly(sigma-caprolactone) with the natural antibacterial propolis, and uses response surface methodology based on a three-level, four-variable Box-Behnken design, to model the dependence of fiber diameter distribution on process parameters. The effect of the concentration of the antibacterial substance, the flow rate, the voltage, and the collector distance were analyzed. The linear coefficients of the antibacterial content and flow rate, and the quadratic coefficients of the voltage, distance and flow rate as well as the interaction effect between voltage and distance were found to be statistically significant. Parameters capable of forming small diameter fibers were targeted for higher surface area to material volume ratios. The parameters predicted to produce a minimum average fiber diameter of 0.506 mu m were then validated in a confirmatory experiment giving a 0.505 mu m average. The model maps the impact of electrospinning parameters on the fabrication and morphology of PCL/propolis scaffolds, which have potential woundcare applications.
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