Electrospinning is a versatile process used to prepare micro- and nano- sized fibers from various polymers dissolved in volatile solvents. In this report, cellulose and cellulose–heparin composite fibers are prepared from nonvolatile room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) solvents by electrospinning. RTILs are extracted from the biopolymer fiber after the fiber formation using a cosolvent. Micron to nanometer sized, branched fibers were obtained from 10% (w/w) concentration of polysaccharide biopolymer in RTIL solution with an applied voltage of 15–20 kV. Cellulose–heparin composite fibers showed anticoagulant activity, demonstrating that the bioactivity of heparin remained unaffected even on exposure to a high voltage involved in electrospinning.
展开▼
