Indo-German Science & Technology Centre

Today more than ever, mosquito-borne diseases have a major influence on the quality of life and socio-economic development of a large part of the human population. Malaria is one such diseases. Responsible for reaching almost half of the world's population in about 100 countries, its occurrence has a tremendous impact on the human health of 214 million people, being the cause of the death of more than 438 000 people, and, also, to significant economic losses. Recent increases in drug resistance (drugs and repellents) and climate change, have led this disease to spread into new geographical areas, especially in Europe’s outskirts. Aware of this situation, the authors sought to develop a new biodegradable and antimalarial technological solution, through the functionalization of PLA filaments. It is expected that, this new technological solution, might contribute to the diminishing of the impact of malaria on human health. Bearing this purpose in mind, this researcg work aim at the development of a new piece of cloth made with an entirely new family of PLA fibres, specifically designed. Those fibres were embedded with internally developed microcapsules containing a natural repellent agent – schinus molle – added during the extrusion process. Based upon this new fibre, three knit structures were produced and the repellent efficacy and washing resistance were assessed.

Electrospinning is a straightforward, cheap and unique method to produce novel fibers with diameter in the range of 100 nm and even less. Those nanofibers have a wide variety of applications such as: filters, membranes, composite reinforcement, drug delivery, protective barriers, sensors, wound dressings and tissue-engineered scaffolds where their unique properties contribute to product functionality. However, this process is characterized by a chaotic oscillation of the electrospinning jet which leads to the formation of beads an uneven nanofibers. This research work envisages the development of an apparatus to control the deposition of electrospun nanofibers through the use of a series of charged metal rings and the addition of a secondary power source, which enables a greater control over the polymer jet stream.