*2.4. Electrospun Mat Fabrication*

Mats were prepared by the electrospinning technique. The electrospinning apparatus consisted of a Spellman SL 50 P 10/CE/230 high-voltage power supply (Hauppauge, NY, USA), a KD Scientific 200 series syringe pump, and a glass syringe containing the polymer solution connected to a stainless-steel blunt-ended needle with an inner diameter of 0.51 mm through a PTFE tube. Electrospinning was performed at room temperature and relative humidity of 40–50%. FG solution was electrospun by using the following conditions: applied voltage = 20 kV, feed rate = 0.3 mL h<sup>−</sup>1, and needle-to-collector distance = 15 cm. The electrospinning of FG+NaOH solution was carried out using the same parameters employed for FG solution, except for the voltage and flow rate which were increased up to 23 kV and decreased up to 0.1 mL h−1, respectively, due to the higher solution viscosity conferred by NaOH. After fabrication, some mats were subjected to a thermal treatment carried out at 80 ◦C for 30 min under vacuum. The obtained mats were stored in a desiccator at 4 ◦C until further analysis.
