High-throughput Fabrication of Chitosan/Poly(ethylene oxide) Nanofibers by Modified Free Surface Electrospinning

摘要

It is very difficult to electrospin pure chitosan (CS) due to the repulsive forces between its ionic groups produced in the electrospinning process, resulting in the formation of nanofibers by blending CS with other natural or synthetic polymers for electrospinning. In this research work, a high-throughput fabrication of CS/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) nanofibers were obtained using a modified free surface electrospinning (MFSE), which contained a titanium solution reservoir with thick smooth edges. Effects of the concentrations of acetic acid (AA), CS and PEO on the conductivity and viscosity of spinning solutions as well as the morphology, crystallinity and yield of CS/PEO nanofibers were investigated. And the fabrication mechanism of MFSE was studied by simulating the electric field distribution using Maxwell 3D due to the importance of electric field distribution in the spinning process. The simulation results of electric field were in keeping with the experimental data and indicated the MFSE could produce a lot of high-quality CS/PEO nanofibers.