Formation and morphological variation of electrospun cellulose acetate nanofibers via dual-bath immersion electrospinning

Electrospinning of cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers commonly confronts the problem associated with the selection of mixed solvent systems for preparing continuously spinnable solutions. This study develops a modified electrospinning method termed dual-bath immersion electrospinning (I-ESP) for the preparation of CA nanofibers with different morphology. Under the optimized processing conditions, dual-bath I-ESP performs the efficient production of smooth and uniform nanofibers of CA using N,N-dimethylformamide as the solvent. The morphology variation of nanofibers from smooth surfaces to porous surfaces is achievable through using polyvinylpyrrolidone as the phase separation enhancer. Dual-bath I-ESP offers a novel perspective in tailoring the morphology of CA nanofibers, and thus opens up the opportunity to broaden the usage of CA nanofibers.