Zein/PVDF micro/nanofibers with improved mechanical property for oil adsorption

Abstract

Development of “green” oil sorbents with features such as high sorption capacity, eco-friendliness, and reusability is of great significance because frequent oil spill incidents have caused severe environmental concerns. In this study, zein, a natural protein extracted from corn, is introduced to be an attractive candidate as oil sorbent for the first time. However, the zein film has poor mechanical properties, which limits the broad application in reality. In this work, Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is introduced into zein fibers to produce oil sorbents with improved mechanical properties using bicomponent electrospinning. The new hierarchical structure of zein/PVDF fibers with helical ribbon morphology are reported. The formation mechanisms of ribbon fibers and helical fibers are involved in the explanation of the generation of this new hierarchical structure. This study demonstrates that micro-/nano-materials based on the natural proteins such as zein are promising materials for developing “green” oil sorbents.