Introducing humidity and temperature as important parameters determining the size of electrosprayed chitosan nanoparticles

Particle size is an important parameter in determining the quality of drug delivery systems. In this study, the effect of four independent parameters on the size of nanoparticles, prepared via electrospray, was investigated using artificial neural networks (ANNs). The parameters included concentration of polymer, applied voltage, humidity and temperature, of which, the last two were investigated for the first time in this study. The developed ANNs model showed that applied voltage and temperature had small and reverse effects on the size. However, the dominant factors determining the size of the nanoparticles were humidity and polymer concentration: an optimum value was required for obtaining the smallest size.