Electrospun polyvinyl alcohol/waterborne polyurethane composite nanofibers involving cellulose nanofibers

Abstract

TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers (TOCNs) were used as nanofillers in this work. Composite nanofibers of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/waterborne polyurethane (WPU) reinforced with TOCNs were produced by electrospinning. The reinforcing capability of TOCNs was investigated by tensile tests. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetry analyses were also carried out in order to characterize the appearance, crystallinity, and reinforcing effect of the cellulose nanofibers. SEM results showed that PVA/WPU/TOCNs composite nanofibers presented a highly homogeneous dispersion of TOCNs. The reinforced composites had about 44% increase in their mechanical properties with addition of only 5 wt % of TOCNs while about 42% decrease in elongation at break. The TOCNs reinforced composite nanofibers were more thermally stable than pure PVA/WPU nanofibers. The development of crystalline structure in the composite fibers was observed by XRD. Since PVA, WPU, and TOCNs are hydrophilic, non-toxic, and biocompatible, and therefore, these nanocomposite nanofibers could be used for tissue scaffolding, filtration materials, and medical industries as wound dressing materials.

A delineating procedure to retrieve relevant publication data in research areas: the case of nanocellulose

“…Wood, tension wood, electrospinning process and tempo mediated oxidation, which is an treatment that uses the chemical compound (2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxy (TEMPO), were also part of the final selection. These themes appears frequently in nanocellulose-focused studies (Azizi Samir, Alloin, & Dufresne, 2005;Charreau, Foresti, & Vazquez, 2013;Chirayil, Mathew, & Thomas, 2014;Dai et al, 2014;Domingues, Gomes, & Reis, 2014;Durán, Lemes, & Seabra, 2012;Eichhorn et al, 2010;Isogai, 2013;Klemm et al, 2011;Moon et al, 2011;Orts et al, 2005;Pääkkö et al, 2007;Siqueira et al, 2010;Siró & Plackett, 2010) Figure 7 presents a map with these research topics (nodes). In this map all clusters (topics) are placed using the citation traffic among them.…”

“…There is, however, no relevant citation connection between them. Electrospinning is a technique used to produce micro-and nano-sized polymer-based fibres, and nanocellulose has been studied to improve the mechanical property of the final fibre (Dai et al, 2014). Nanocellulose electrical and magnetic properties have also been explored to be used with conductive polymers and optically transparent electroactive papers (Moon et al, 2011;Klemm et al, 2011).…”

Combination of cellulose nanofibers and chain‐end‐functionalized polyethylene and their applications in nanocomposites

“…These include cellulose nanowhiskers, which are mainly prepared through acid hydrolysis and have an aspect ratio of 50–100; microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), which comes from mechanical fibrillation with and without pretreatment as a weblike structure; and individualized nanofiber cellulose (NFC) prepared by 2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine‐1‐oxyl (TEMPO)‐mediated oxidation. Because of its excellent mechanical strength, researchers have used nanoscale cellulose as a promising reinforcing agent in the combination of various polymer matrixes, including poly(lactic acid), polyurethane, epoxy resin, and poly(vinyl alcohol) …”

Waterborne polyurethane nanocomposites based on vegetable oil and microfibrillated cellulose

“…The addition of nanoparticles could solve this problem, providing significant improvements in thermal and mechanical properties at very low contents of the reinforcement, while generally higher concentration of microsized reinforcements is needed to obtain the same effect . In particular, the use of micro and nanoreinforcements derived from renewable resources, such as microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), cellulose and chitin nanocrystals, and bacterial cellulose, not only can improve the final properties of the synthesized composites, but also increase the amount of carbon from renewable resources in the final material …”

“…15 In particular, the use of micro and nanoreinforcements derived from renewable resources, such as microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), cellulose and chitin nanocrystals, and bacterial cellulose, not only can improve the final properties of the synthesized composites, but also increase the amount of carbon from renewable resources in the final material. 2,[16][17][18][19][20][21] The strategy of incorporating cellulose as reinforcement of WBPU has been already applied by some authors that extracted cellulose nanocrystals (CN) from microcrystalline cellulose, flax fiber, wood (among other sources) to reinforce different WBPUs. In general, CNs display good interfacial interaction with PUs due to strong hydrogen bonding, and this is also observed in WBPU, allowing for improved dispersion of the particles.…”