Nanocrystalline Cellulose/Polyvinylpyrrolidone Fibrous Composites Prepared by Electrospinning and Thermal Crosslinking

Katrina M Hatch,Tatsiana Liavitskaya,Sergey Vyazovkin,Jana Hlavatá,Andrei V Stanishevsky,Katherine Paulett

doi:10.1155/2019/7103936

Abstract

Nanocellulose/polyvinylpyrrolidone (nCel/PVP) fibrous composite materials containing rod-like nanocrystalline cellulose particles with the lengths varying in the range from 100 to 2000 nm were prepared by using DC electrospinning. The particle size had a strong effect on the precursor viscosity, process efficiency, and resulting fiber diameter. The thermal crosslinking of nCel/PVP composite nanofibers with up to 1.0 : 8.0 nCel/PVP weight ratio resulted in fibrous membranes with textural, air transport, and mass swelling properties varying significantly with the size of cellulose particles. The presence of nCel particles increased the oxidation resistance of PVP during the crosslinking and affected the morphological changes of nCel/PVP fibrous membranes in aqueous solutions. Particles with the smallest size improved the strength of the membrane but decreased its mass swelling capacity, whereas the larger particles led to a more porous and flexible, but mechanically weaker, membrane structure with a higher swelling ability. Thus, by using the nCel particles of different size and shape, the properties of nCel/PVP composite fibrous membranes can be tailored to a specific application.

Highlights

Nanocellulose, in its nanocrystalline, microfibrillar, or bacterial cellulose form, has advanced as a key component in a variety of biomedical materials intended for drug delivery, wound dressings, biomedical implants, vascular grafts, and scaffolds for tissue engineering [1,2,3]
The crystalline structure of nanocellulose particles was confirmed by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) (Figure 1)
FTIR spectra confirmed the purity of used nanocellulose materials and absence of any significant spectral variations between the nanocellulose particles of different sizes and microcrystalline cellulose

Summary

Introduction

Nanocellulose (nCel), in its nanocrystalline, microfibrillar, or bacterial cellulose form, has advanced as a key component in a variety of biomedical materials intended for drug delivery, wound dressings, biomedical implants, vascular grafts, and scaffolds for tissue engineering [1,2,3]. It has been a popular topic in research due to its physical properties, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity. Nanocellulose particles have been increasingly used as an additive to many natural and synthetic polymers to create new composite materials with improved service characteristics and new combinations of useful properties [4]. The addition of nanocellulose particles has recently been shown to improve the mechanical properties of polymer fibers produced by the electrospinning process. This process uses a high electric field to generate electrically charged jets of polymer solutions to produce micro- and nanofibers [5, 6]. Electrospun fibrous polymer materials have been found to be advantageous for many biomedical, environmental, and other applications [7, 8]

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