Electrospinning and mechanical evaluation of chitin, chitosan, and chitosan-carbon blackmembranes

摘要

The electrospinning process is the only method of fiber production utilizing electric potentialopposed to a mechanical pulling force to fabricate fibrous mats. The resultant mats are composed ofrandomly oriented fibers that have large surface area-to-volume ratios. Utilizing this method, we havefabricated non-woven mats composed of the biopolymers chitin and chitosan. As a result of theirintrinsic properties, as well as nanoscale fibers and macroscale pores, chitin and chitosan mats offerunique properties that could potentially be suitable for a variety of membrane applications. Somecomposite mats were investigated in an attempt to tailor their properties towards applications. Toimprove their chemical stability, the membranes underwent cross-linking involving glutaraldehyde(GA); additionally, a conductive filler, carbon black (up to 62.0 wt%) was incorporated for otherproperties. Mechanical properties of all membranes were determined utilizing a KES-G1 tabletopuniaxial testing device.