Chiang Mai Journal of Science

Core-shell fibers with polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as the shell and polylactic acid (PLA) mixed with fertilizer as the core were prepared by coaxial electrospinning. Both PHB and PLA are biodegradable polymers so that they become environmentally friendly. These core-shell structures offer the potential to control the manner and timing of fertilizer delivery. At a fixed flow rate of shell solution, the core-shell electrospun fiber mats exhibited a lower flow rate of core solution causing  a lower release rate of fertilizer. Adjustments of fertilizer concentration obtained that  fertilizer release rate from every core-shell fiber mats were just about the same but amount of release fertilizer from electrospun mats were different. An electrospun mat can release fertilizer for 1 month without degradation.