Effect of nonionic surfactant in the preparation of microsphere based on blend of poly(lactic acid) and polycaprolactone

Microspheres of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(ϵ-caprolactone) (PCL) were blended and prepared using the water in oil (w/o) emulsion solvent evaporation method. The PLA/PCL blend was formulated with the composition of 60:40 (w/w), nonionic surfactant was utilized as the emulsifier. This study observed the distribution of the microspheres particle size by varying the nonionic surfactant volumes, emulsion stirring speed, and dispersion stirring time. The microspheres were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Particle Size Analyzer (PSA). Physical forms of microspheres were observed using an optical microscope as well. The IR spectra of PLA/PCL blend showed that only physical interaction was occured between them. Moreover, the result of this study showed that when 2.0 mL nonionic surfactant was added, the uniform size distribution of the formed microspheres was observed at 31.50m. Furthermore, the microspheres that formed through emulsion stirring speed at 900 rpm revealed that the formed microspheres have a uniform size distribution at 31.50 μm, while the uniform size distribution at 34.58 μm was observed in the microspheres that formed during the dispersion stirring time at 90 minutes.