Studies of Electrospun Cellulose Acetate Nanofibrous Membranes

The objective of this work was to study the feasibility of preparing cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibrous membranes by electrospinning with single solvent and their potential applying as affinity membrane. CA solutions in dichloromethane (DCM), formic acid, acetic acid and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) were electrospun into nonwoven fiber membranes, respectively. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) results showed that the as-spun CA nanofibers using TFA as solvent were continuous and smooth with the fiber diameter ranging from 100-300nm. Furthermore, their properties such as specific surface area, porosity and mechanical properties were investigated. The nanofibrous membranes exhibited high surface area and high porosity compared with common filter paper, which reached 2.020 10 7 m -1 and 87%, respectively. Also, the membranes displayed a very high water permeability and a good hydrolytic stability. These characteristic properties were very effective for the separation of particles. As a result of X-ray diffraction (XRD), the obtained fibers were mainly amorphous, but characterized for good mechanical properties.