Novel Fabrication Of Cellulose Nitrate Nanofiber Mats

Abstract

Cellulose derivatives were electrospun into nonwoven nanofiber mats via two fabrication routes, both of which produced appropriate physical and chemical properties to support biological indicators: (1) spinning of cellulose nitrate directly and (2) nitration of cellulose acetate nonwoven mats after spinning. For both methods, the morphology of the fibers was analyzed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and use of ImageJ software; the chemical structure of the polymer was analyzed through Fourir transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); and tensile strength of each nonwoven mat was analyzed through tensile testing. Ultimately, both approaches produced nanofiber mats with comparable physical properties. However, only the mats from the first method contained nitrate groups at the fiber surface.