Effect of Solution Properties in the Development of Cellulose Derivative Nanostructures Processed via Electrospinning

: In the last few years, electrospinning has proved to be one of the best methods for obtaining membranes of a micro and nanometric fiber size. This method mainly consists in the spinning of a polymeric or biopolymeric solution in solvents, promoted by the difference in the electric field between the needle and collector, which is finally deposited as a conjunction of randomly oriented fibers. The present work focuses on using cellulose derivatives (namely cellulose acetate and ethylcellulose), based on the revaluation of these byproducts and waste products of biorefinery, to produce nanostructured nanofiber through electrospinning with the objective of establishing a relation between the initial solutions and the nanostructures obtained. In this sense, a complete characterization of the biopolymeric solutions (physicochemical and rheological properties) and the resulting nanostructures (microstructural and thermal properties) was carried out. Therefore, solutions with different concentrations (5, 10, 15, and 20 wt%) of the two cellulose derivatives and different solvents with several proportions between them were used to establish their influence on the properties of the resulting nanostructures. The results show that the solutions with 10 wt% in acetic acid/H2O and 15 wt% in acetone/N,N-dimethylformamide of cellulose acetate and 5 wt% of ethylcellulose in acetone/N,N-dimethylformamide, exhibited the best properties, both in the solution and nanostructure stateThis work is part of a research project sponsored by the “Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónAgencia Estatal de Investigación” (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, EU) from the Spanish government (Ref. RTI2018-097100-B-C21 and Ref. RTI2018-096080-B-C21). This work is also possible thanks to the predoctorals grants of Mercedes Jiménez Rosado (FPU2017/01718, Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional), José Fernando Rubio Valle (PRE2019-090632, Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional), and the postdoctoral grant of Víctor Manuel Pérez Puyana (Convocatoria 2019-20, Junta de Andalucía and European Social Fund, DOC_00586