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Investigation on morphology of composite poly(ethylene oxide)-cellulose nanofibers
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Materials Today: Proceedings 17 (2019) 388–393
www.materialstoday.com/proceedings
6th International Conference on Functional Materials & Devices (ICFMD 2017)
Investigation on morphology of composite poly(ethylene oxide)cellulose nanofibers A.K. Arofa*, N.A. Mat Nora, N. Aziza, M.Z. Kufiana, A.A. Abdulazizb, O.O. Mamatkarimovb a b
Centre for Ionics University of Malaya, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Namangan Institute of Engineering and Technology, 160115 Kasansay Street 7, Namangan city, Namangan region, Republic of Uzbekistan
Abstract Electrospinning is a unique method in producing polymer nanofibers with diameter typically in the range from 10 nm to 1500 nm. Large length to diameter ratio and small mass to volume ratio of these nano-sizes fibers widens the areas of their application to many industrial uses. In this study, the composite nanofibers were produced by electrospinning method. Cellulose content was incorporated in the PEO polymer host solution at various concentrations. The morphology of the processed fibers has been examined by microscopic techniques: optical microscope and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The results obtained shows the formation of fibers with less bead when increasing the cellulose content from 5 to 25 wt.%. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of 6th International Conference on Functional Materials & Devices 2017 (ICFMD 2017). Keywords: Electrospinning; Fiber; Cotton; Cellulose; FESEM; Morphology
1. Introduction In recent years, nanotechnology has become a topic of great interest to scientists and engineers, and is now established as a prioritized research area. Electrospinning is a technique of developing fibers using an electrical rather than a mechanical driving force. In order to electrospin fibers from polymer solutions, a solvent which property is equal or volatile as water is preferred. A high voltage is applied to a droplet of polymer solution. When
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +60379674085 E-mail address: [email protected] 2214-7853© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of 6th International Conference on Functional Materials & Devices 2017 (ICFMD 2017).
A.K. Arof et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 17 (2019) 388–393
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the charge at the droplet surface overcomes the surface tension of the droplet, a fine jet elongates from the droplet and is collected on the grounded electrode. The diameter and morphology of the resulting fiber has been shown to be affected by all variables in the electrospinning process including the solution composition, applied voltage, collector distance, and collector type. Many researchers have implemented electrospinning as a method for the production of micro- and nano-fibers and several excellent reviews of the state-of-the-art in electrospinning have been published [1]. The important properties of these nano size fibers, which make them commercially important are small diameter, large surface area, and small pore size. Large length to diameter ratio and small mass to volume ratio of these nano-sizes fibers widens the areas of their application further. These properties of nanofibers are exploited by current researchers to determine suitable conditions for electrospinning various polymers and biopolymers for eventual applications including multifunctional membranes, biomedical structural elements (scaffolding used in tissue engineering) [2]. Cellulose is an abundant natural polysaccharide with a unique molecular structure, with a long history in fiber manufacturing. Fabrication of ultrathin cellulose fibers via electrospinning captured vast attention in recent years. However, processing via electrospinning of biopolymers such as cellulose usually present challenges. This is due to their limited solubility in typical solvents and their tendency to aggregate or form gels owing to its strong inter and intramolecular hydrogen bonding networks [3]. A number of residual plants have been chosen as a source for the production of cellulose nano particles such as cotton, corn cobs, rice straw, banana stems, sugar beet, soy hulls and many others. Cotton fiber is a traditional source of cellulose nanostructures but its chemical composition can be influenced by many factors including the genotype and the environment where it was produced. Cotton fibers are the purest form of cellulose, nature’s most abundant polymer. Nearly 90% of the cotton fibers are cellulose. All plants consist of cellulose, but to varying extents. Bast fibers, such as flax, jute, ramie and kenaf, from the stalks of the plants are about three-quarters cellulose [4]. In this paper, a preliminary study is made on the developments and characterization of producing cellulose nanofibers from cotton via electrospinning technique. Weight percentages of cellulose were varied to observe how their concentrations affect the solution properties and the resulting morphology and formation of beads. 2. Experimental 2.1. Materials The main materials used were poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) with molecular weight (Mv) of 300 000 gmol-1 that purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and cotton samples was provided by NamTi from Uzbekistan. The reagents and chemicals used were sulphuric acid that purchased from Friendemann Schmidt Chemical while ethanol that purchased from J. Kollin Chemicals. 2.2. Methods 2.2.1. Preparation of cellulose The raw cotton samples (Fig. 1 a) were cleaned first and removed the unwanted material before proceed for the hydrolysis process. The cleaned cotton samples (Fig. 1 b), were then hydrolyzed by constant stirring in sulphuric acid (H2SO4) solution (65% w/w) at 45 °C for 15 min (Fig. 1 c), with the ratio of 1g cellulose: 8 mL dilute H2SO4. The samples were then centrifuged at 5000 rpm in order to separate the hydrolyzed cotton and liquid layer in order to remove the liquid phase of sulphuric acid (Fig. 1 d). The hydrolyzed cotton was subjected to dialysis process against distilled water by centrifugation. The dialysis process was conducted repeatedly at 5000 rpm for 20 minute for every cycle until the pH of the solution reach neutrality (pH 6-7). The neutral colloidal suspension containing cellulose was then dried and stored in refrigerator at 4 °C for further use (Fig. 1 e).
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(b)
(a)
(e)
(c)
(d)
Fig. 1. Preparation process of cellulose extractions.
2.2.2. Preparations of composite poly(ethylene oxide)-cellulose nanofiber For the host solutions, 0.18 g of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) was dissolved in 2.82 g of ethanol as solvent and stirred constantly at 70 °C until complete dissolution. Different weight percentage (wt.%) of cellulose (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt.%) were added to the host samples to prepare the composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers. For the first composite sample, 0.009 g of cellulose content was added to the host samples of PEO-ethanol followed by intensive stirring in order to obtain the homogenous solution. Similar procedure was repeated for different cellulose content. The homogenous solution of PEO-cellulose solution was then used for fiber formation using electrospinning method. The electrospinning setup consisted of a syringe and needle, a syringe pump, a high voltage power supply, and rotating drum roll covered with an aluminum foil as collector. 3 mL of PEO-cellulose solution was loaded in a syringe (Fig. 2 a) which attached to the syringe pump and electrospun by applying the electrospinning parameters of 10 kV voltage, flow rate of 1.0 mL/h and 10 cm for distance from needle tip to aluminium collector (Fig. 2 b). The fibers sample were collected from the aluminium foil (Fig. 2 c) and characterized by means of optical microscope and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).
(c) (a) (b) Fig. 2. Preparation of composite poly(ethylene oxide)-cellulose nanofiber by electrospinning process.
2.3. Characterization 2.3.1. Optical microscope For the preliminary investigation on the fiber formation of composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers, the optical microscope test was conducted before proceed for morphology analysis by means of FESEM. All nanofibers
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samples of different addition of cellulose content (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt. %) were observed in order to examine the presence of fiber formation. 2.3.2. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) The effect of cellulose addition on the morphology of composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers was determined by using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) (Hitachi). The FESEM images showing fiber morphology of the composite nanofibers were taken at 1000x magnifications. A thin layer of platinum with low deposition rate was coated on the surface of composite nanofiber samples prior for examination to avoid charging. 3. Results and discussion Optical microsope analysis (Fig. 3) was performed for preliminary test in order to investigate the formation of fibers for the composite solutions before proceed for the FESEM test. It can be shown that there are formations of fiber in all test samples. However, the images obtained are not clear enough to investigate the effect of varied cellulose concentration on morphology of composite nanofibers. Further analysis on the surface morphology and bead formation for the composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers was carried out using FESEM.
(a)
(b)
(d)
(c)
(e)
Fig. 3. Optical images of composite poly(ethylene oxide)-cellulose fiber with different cellulose contant (a) 5 wt.%, (b) 10 wt.%, (c) 15 wt.%, (d) 20 wt. % and (e) 25 wt.%
FESEM analysis was performed to investigate the effect of different addition of cellulose content on the surface morphology of fabricated composite nanofibers via electrospinning method. Fig. 4 shows the morphology of composite samples with different cellulose content 5 wt. % (Fig. 4 a), 10 wt. % (Fig. 4 b), 15 wt. % (Fig. 4 c), 20 wt. % (Fig. 4 d) and 25 wt. % (Fig. 4 e). The results obtained showed that there are multi-fibers formations for the all cellulose added samples. However, the uniform fiber distributions are not successfully obtained. The effects of different cellulose ratios and concentration which affects the fiber morphology are observed. There are clumps and beads formation observed in all fiber samples. It can be observed that by increasing the cellulose content from 5 to 25 wt.%, the bead formation are slowly decreased. This is due to the effect of solution concentration which plays an important role in obtaining uniform and bead free nanofibers. This is because the solution properties are known to affect the fiber morphology since the viscosity of electrospinning solution changed as the cellulose concentration
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varied [5, 6]. At low or dilute concentration, beads formed when the surface tension and viscous forces form an unstable jet and the liquid properties approach those leading to capillary break up. Since a higher viscosity increased the jet stability to cohesive nature of polymer, the jet produces smooth fibers with less beads formation. It is clear from Fig. 4 a to Fig. 4 c, that many beads are present in fibers spun from 5 to 15 wt. % and few beads formed in fiber spuns from Fig. 4 d to Fig. 4 e, from 20 and 25 wt. % cellulose content. Within the electrospinning setup, processing parameters which include applied voltage, distance between collector and tip as well as flow rate will influence the fiber morphology. Applied voltage and distance are the crucial factors in formation of beadless nanofibers. This is because these two parameters will influence the electric field and attraction between the polymer solution and the charged collection. The electrospinning process produces fibers only if the applied voltage is above a given limiting value required to overcome the surface tension of the solution. Meanwhile if the distance is too short, the fibers will not have enough time to solidify before reaching the collector and bead fiber obtained [2]. It is also known that the one important physical aspect of the electrospun fibers is the dryness of the solvent, so optimum distance is required since in this study 10 cm distance is not sufficient enough to produce beadless nanofibers. The formation of beads is undesirable in some applications because it can reduce the surface area per unit mass [6]. To obtain better reaction kinetics, it is desired to increase the exposed surface area of the fibers.
(a)
(b)
(d)
(c)
(e)
Fig. 4. FESEM images of composite poly(ethylene oxide)-cellulose nanofiber with different cellulose contant (a) 0 wt.%, (b) 5 wt.%, (c) 10 wt.%, (d) 15 wt. %, (e) 20 wt.% and 25 wt.%.
4. Conclusions In this work, the composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers were prepared by electrospun the mixing of PEO polymer solution and enhance material of natural cellulose. Optical microscope and FESEM analysis were performed to investigate the fiber formation. This is the preliminary results of composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers prepared by using the electrospinning technique, thus the results obtained not without defect. The optical and FESEM results showed that there were bead formations for all the composite samples. These justify that the solution and electrospinning process need to be optimized; in which these optimizations will be included in our next research
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study. Hence, the motivation of our next research is to eliminate beads and to determine the favorable condition to produce beadless PEO-cellulose nanofibers. Acknowledgements Authors would like to address special acknowledgement to Prof O.O Mamatkarimou, Rector of Namangan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Uzbekistan for providing the raw cotton materials. Authors also thank Centre for Ionics University of Malaya (CIUM) for assisting in the equipment usage and providing financial support. References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
M.W. Frey, Polym. Rev. 48 (2008) 378-391. M. Chowdhury, G. Stylios, Int. J. Bsc & Ap. Sc. 10 (2010) 70-78. H. Qi, X. Sui, J. Yuan, Y. Wei, L. Zhang, Mater. Eng. 295 (2010) 695-700. Y.-L. Hsieh, in: S. Gordon, Y.-L. Hsieh (Eds.), Chemical Structure and Properties of Cotton, 2007, pp. 3-34. Z. Li, C. Wang, One-Dimensional Nanostructures Electrospinning Technique and Unique Nanofibers, Springer Briefs in Materials, 2013. L. Shahreen, G.G. Chase, J. Eng. Fbr. Chem. 10 (2015) 136-145.
ScienceDirect Materials Today: Proceedings 17 (2019) 388–393
www.materialstoday.com/proceedings
6th International Conference on Functional Materials & Devices (ICFMD 2017)
Investigation on morphology of composite poly(ethylene oxide)cellulose nanofibers A.K. Arofa*, N.A. Mat Nora, N. Aziza, M.Z. Kufiana, A.A. Abdulazizb, O.O. Mamatkarimovb a b
Centre for Ionics University of Malaya, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Namangan Institute of Engineering and Technology, 160115 Kasansay Street 7, Namangan city, Namangan region, Republic of Uzbekistan
Abstract Electrospinning is a unique method in producing polymer nanofibers with diameter typically in the range from 10 nm to 1500 nm. Large length to diameter ratio and small mass to volume ratio of these nano-sizes fibers widens the areas of their application to many industrial uses. In this study, the composite nanofibers were produced by electrospinning method. Cellulose content was incorporated in the PEO polymer host solution at various concentrations. The morphology of the processed fibers has been examined by microscopic techniques: optical microscope and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The results obtained shows the formation of fibers with less bead when increasing the cellulose content from 5 to 25 wt.%. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of 6th International Conference on Functional Materials & Devices 2017 (ICFMD 2017). Keywords: Electrospinning; Fiber; Cotton; Cellulose; FESEM; Morphology
1. Introduction In recent years, nanotechnology has become a topic of great interest to scientists and engineers, and is now established as a prioritized research area. Electrospinning is a technique of developing fibers using an electrical rather than a mechanical driving force. In order to electrospin fibers from polymer solutions, a solvent which property is equal or volatile as water is preferred. A high voltage is applied to a droplet of polymer solution. When
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +60379674085 E-mail address: [email protected] 2214-7853© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of 6th International Conference on Functional Materials & Devices 2017 (ICFMD 2017).
A.K. Arof et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 17 (2019) 388–393
389
the charge at the droplet surface overcomes the surface tension of the droplet, a fine jet elongates from the droplet and is collected on the grounded electrode. The diameter and morphology of the resulting fiber has been shown to be affected by all variables in the electrospinning process including the solution composition, applied voltage, collector distance, and collector type. Many researchers have implemented electrospinning as a method for the production of micro- and nano-fibers and several excellent reviews of the state-of-the-art in electrospinning have been published [1]. The important properties of these nano size fibers, which make them commercially important are small diameter, large surface area, and small pore size. Large length to diameter ratio and small mass to volume ratio of these nano-sizes fibers widens the areas of their application further. These properties of nanofibers are exploited by current researchers to determine suitable conditions for electrospinning various polymers and biopolymers for eventual applications including multifunctional membranes, biomedical structural elements (scaffolding used in tissue engineering) [2]. Cellulose is an abundant natural polysaccharide with a unique molecular structure, with a long history in fiber manufacturing. Fabrication of ultrathin cellulose fibers via electrospinning captured vast attention in recent years. However, processing via electrospinning of biopolymers such as cellulose usually present challenges. This is due to their limited solubility in typical solvents and their tendency to aggregate or form gels owing to its strong inter and intramolecular hydrogen bonding networks [3]. A number of residual plants have been chosen as a source for the production of cellulose nano particles such as cotton, corn cobs, rice straw, banana stems, sugar beet, soy hulls and many others. Cotton fiber is a traditional source of cellulose nanostructures but its chemical composition can be influenced by many factors including the genotype and the environment where it was produced. Cotton fibers are the purest form of cellulose, nature’s most abundant polymer. Nearly 90% of the cotton fibers are cellulose. All plants consist of cellulose, but to varying extents. Bast fibers, such as flax, jute, ramie and kenaf, from the stalks of the plants are about three-quarters cellulose [4]. In this paper, a preliminary study is made on the developments and characterization of producing cellulose nanofibers from cotton via electrospinning technique. Weight percentages of cellulose were varied to observe how their concentrations affect the solution properties and the resulting morphology and formation of beads. 2. Experimental 2.1. Materials The main materials used were poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) with molecular weight (Mv) of 300 000 gmol-1 that purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and cotton samples was provided by NamTi from Uzbekistan. The reagents and chemicals used were sulphuric acid that purchased from Friendemann Schmidt Chemical while ethanol that purchased from J. Kollin Chemicals. 2.2. Methods 2.2.1. Preparation of cellulose The raw cotton samples (Fig. 1 a) were cleaned first and removed the unwanted material before proceed for the hydrolysis process. The cleaned cotton samples (Fig. 1 b), were then hydrolyzed by constant stirring in sulphuric acid (H2SO4) solution (65% w/w) at 45 °C for 15 min (Fig. 1 c), with the ratio of 1g cellulose: 8 mL dilute H2SO4. The samples were then centrifuged at 5000 rpm in order to separate the hydrolyzed cotton and liquid layer in order to remove the liquid phase of sulphuric acid (Fig. 1 d). The hydrolyzed cotton was subjected to dialysis process against distilled water by centrifugation. The dialysis process was conducted repeatedly at 5000 rpm for 20 minute for every cycle until the pH of the solution reach neutrality (pH 6-7). The neutral colloidal suspension containing cellulose was then dried and stored in refrigerator at 4 °C for further use (Fig. 1 e).
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(b)
(a)
(e)
(c)
(d)
Fig. 1. Preparation process of cellulose extractions.
2.2.2. Preparations of composite poly(ethylene oxide)-cellulose nanofiber For the host solutions, 0.18 g of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) was dissolved in 2.82 g of ethanol as solvent and stirred constantly at 70 °C until complete dissolution. Different weight percentage (wt.%) of cellulose (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt.%) were added to the host samples to prepare the composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers. For the first composite sample, 0.009 g of cellulose content was added to the host samples of PEO-ethanol followed by intensive stirring in order to obtain the homogenous solution. Similar procedure was repeated for different cellulose content. The homogenous solution of PEO-cellulose solution was then used for fiber formation using electrospinning method. The electrospinning setup consisted of a syringe and needle, a syringe pump, a high voltage power supply, and rotating drum roll covered with an aluminum foil as collector. 3 mL of PEO-cellulose solution was loaded in a syringe (Fig. 2 a) which attached to the syringe pump and electrospun by applying the electrospinning parameters of 10 kV voltage, flow rate of 1.0 mL/h and 10 cm for distance from needle tip to aluminium collector (Fig. 2 b). The fibers sample were collected from the aluminium foil (Fig. 2 c) and characterized by means of optical microscope and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).
(c) (a) (b) Fig. 2. Preparation of composite poly(ethylene oxide)-cellulose nanofiber by electrospinning process.
2.3. Characterization 2.3.1. Optical microscope For the preliminary investigation on the fiber formation of composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers, the optical microscope test was conducted before proceed for morphology analysis by means of FESEM. All nanofibers
A.K. Arof et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 17 (2019) 388–393
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samples of different addition of cellulose content (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt. %) were observed in order to examine the presence of fiber formation. 2.3.2. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) The effect of cellulose addition on the morphology of composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers was determined by using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) (Hitachi). The FESEM images showing fiber morphology of the composite nanofibers were taken at 1000x magnifications. A thin layer of platinum with low deposition rate was coated on the surface of composite nanofiber samples prior for examination to avoid charging. 3. Results and discussion Optical microsope analysis (Fig. 3) was performed for preliminary test in order to investigate the formation of fibers for the composite solutions before proceed for the FESEM test. It can be shown that there are formations of fiber in all test samples. However, the images obtained are not clear enough to investigate the effect of varied cellulose concentration on morphology of composite nanofibers. Further analysis on the surface morphology and bead formation for the composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers was carried out using FESEM.
(a)
(b)
(d)
(c)
(e)
Fig. 3. Optical images of composite poly(ethylene oxide)-cellulose fiber with different cellulose contant (a) 5 wt.%, (b) 10 wt.%, (c) 15 wt.%, (d) 20 wt. % and (e) 25 wt.%
FESEM analysis was performed to investigate the effect of different addition of cellulose content on the surface morphology of fabricated composite nanofibers via electrospinning method. Fig. 4 shows the morphology of composite samples with different cellulose content 5 wt. % (Fig. 4 a), 10 wt. % (Fig. 4 b), 15 wt. % (Fig. 4 c), 20 wt. % (Fig. 4 d) and 25 wt. % (Fig. 4 e). The results obtained showed that there are multi-fibers formations for the all cellulose added samples. However, the uniform fiber distributions are not successfully obtained. The effects of different cellulose ratios and concentration which affects the fiber morphology are observed. There are clumps and beads formation observed in all fiber samples. It can be observed that by increasing the cellulose content from 5 to 25 wt.%, the bead formation are slowly decreased. This is due to the effect of solution concentration which plays an important role in obtaining uniform and bead free nanofibers. This is because the solution properties are known to affect the fiber morphology since the viscosity of electrospinning solution changed as the cellulose concentration
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A.K. Arof et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 17 (2019) 388–393
varied [5, 6]. At low or dilute concentration, beads formed when the surface tension and viscous forces form an unstable jet and the liquid properties approach those leading to capillary break up. Since a higher viscosity increased the jet stability to cohesive nature of polymer, the jet produces smooth fibers with less beads formation. It is clear from Fig. 4 a to Fig. 4 c, that many beads are present in fibers spun from 5 to 15 wt. % and few beads formed in fiber spuns from Fig. 4 d to Fig. 4 e, from 20 and 25 wt. % cellulose content. Within the electrospinning setup, processing parameters which include applied voltage, distance between collector and tip as well as flow rate will influence the fiber morphology. Applied voltage and distance are the crucial factors in formation of beadless nanofibers. This is because these two parameters will influence the electric field and attraction between the polymer solution and the charged collection. The electrospinning process produces fibers only if the applied voltage is above a given limiting value required to overcome the surface tension of the solution. Meanwhile if the distance is too short, the fibers will not have enough time to solidify before reaching the collector and bead fiber obtained [2]. It is also known that the one important physical aspect of the electrospun fibers is the dryness of the solvent, so optimum distance is required since in this study 10 cm distance is not sufficient enough to produce beadless nanofibers. The formation of beads is undesirable in some applications because it can reduce the surface area per unit mass [6]. To obtain better reaction kinetics, it is desired to increase the exposed surface area of the fibers.
(a)
(b)
(d)
(c)
(e)
Fig. 4. FESEM images of composite poly(ethylene oxide)-cellulose nanofiber with different cellulose contant (a) 0 wt.%, (b) 5 wt.%, (c) 10 wt.%, (d) 15 wt. %, (e) 20 wt.% and 25 wt.%.
4. Conclusions In this work, the composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers were prepared by electrospun the mixing of PEO polymer solution and enhance material of natural cellulose. Optical microscope and FESEM analysis were performed to investigate the fiber formation. This is the preliminary results of composite PEO-cellulose nanofibers prepared by using the electrospinning technique, thus the results obtained not without defect. The optical and FESEM results showed that there were bead formations for all the composite samples. These justify that the solution and electrospinning process need to be optimized; in which these optimizations will be included in our next research
A.K. Arof et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 17 (2019) 388–393
393
study. Hence, the motivation of our next research is to eliminate beads and to determine the favorable condition to produce beadless PEO-cellulose nanofibers. Acknowledgements Authors would like to address special acknowledgement to Prof O.O Mamatkarimou, Rector of Namangan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Uzbekistan for providing the raw cotton materials. Authors also thank Centre for Ionics University of Malaya (CIUM) for assisting in the equipment usage and providing financial support. References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
M.W. Frey, Polym. Rev. 48 (2008) 378-391. M. Chowdhury, G. Stylios, Int. J. Bsc & Ap. Sc. 10 (2010) 70-78. H. Qi, X. Sui, J. Yuan, Y. Wei, L. Zhang, Mater. Eng. 295 (2010) 695-700. Y.-L. Hsieh, in: S. Gordon, Y.-L. Hsieh (Eds.), Chemical Structure and Properties of Cotton, 2007, pp. 3-34. Z. Li, C. Wang, One-Dimensional Nanostructures Electrospinning Technique and Unique Nanofibers, Springer Briefs in Materials, 2013. L. Shahreen, G.G. Chase, J. Eng. Fbr. Chem. 10 (2015) 136-145.