I have a 400,000 Mw average molecular weight PEO and tried dissolving in distilled water overnight with constant stirring, but the solution became too viscous and hazy (gel-like). Even the stirrer is not moving inside the solution.
Can somebody please guide me on how to get a transparent PEO solution?
I want to perform electrospinning of PEO solution with DI water as a solvent.
Solution viscosity is directly proportional to molecular weight of polymer as well as concentration.
From my experience with cellulose derivatives sometimes even 1-2% solution in water could give you a gel.
The most upfront solution could be to decrease concentration of a solution.
If you need high solid content I would consider different grade of PEO with lower molecular weight
Igors Sivacovs Initially I tried to make an 8 wt% PEO solution, but didn't get success. After that, I tried to make 5 wt% but the issue still persists. Should I even drop the PEO concentration lower than this? because as per the literature, 4 wt% PEO solution is the starting point to perform the electrospinning.
When I was working with high molecular weight chitosan (200,000 Mw if I do remember well) 4 wt% was the highest I could get. Even for common potato starch 6-8 wt% gives you a highly viscous gel. I mean, it is possible that your polymers grade is not suitable for this application
Does a procedure that you are following refers to 400,000 Mw PEO?
Because with an increase of molecular weight viscosity of polymer solution grows exponentially in most cases (for some weird structures is may drop but it is not a case here). If you cut a Mw in two you could lower viscosity several times.
Maybe you can try it.
Yes, in the literature, the authors performed electrospinning using different molecular weights PEO (400,000; 600,000; 900,000 and even 1000,000) and they successfully performed the electrospinning. However, the detailed solution procedure is not mentioned in any paper except that dissolved in water overnight or heated at 60C.
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