Investigation on structure and thermal properties of electrospun cellulose diacetate nanofibers

This study systematically compared and analyzed the structural differences, mainly involved internal group and crystal structure, between electrospun cellulose diacetate nanofibers produced from different solvent system and raw material cellulose diacetate by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimeter. Due to dissolution and electrospinning process, the internal crystal structure of cellulose diacetate nanofibers significantly reduced. Furthermore, the microstructural changes of different cellulose diacetate nanofiber mats, which were fabricated by selecting acetone and acetone/N,N-dimethylacetamide as solvents and tuning process parameters, were investigated. It was found that the solution concentration, spinning voltage, and receiver distance had little effect on the fiber’s internal structure. In addition, the differences in thermal performance were analyzed between the nanofibers obtained from different solvents and the raw material cellulose diacetate by means of differential scanning calorimeters. The study shows that the electrospun nanofibers had quite different thermal properties compared with the original material cellulose diacetate. The crystallinity of the two different nanofibers decreases and the crystallization is not perfect, internal crystalline region in the two kinds of nanofibers reduces, and the thermal stability of the two kinds of nanofibers decreases compared with the raw material cellulose diacetate.