Preparation and Characterization of Cellulose Nanofibril/Polyvinyl Alcohol Composite Nanofibers by Electrospinning 1

This work undertook to prepare nanofibers of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite by elec-trospinning, and characterize the electrospun composite nanofibers. Different contents of CNFs isolated from hardwood bleached kraft pulp (HW-BKP) by 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxy radical (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation were sus-pended in aqueous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution, and then electrospun into CNF/PVA composite nanofibers. The morphology and dimension of CNFs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which revealed that CNFs were fibrillated form with the diameter of about 7.07 ± 0.99 nm. Morphology of the electrospun nanofiber observed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) showed that uniform CNF/PVA composite nano-fibers were manufactured at 1~3 % CNF contents while many beads were observed at 5 % CNF level. Both the viscosity of CNF/PVA solution and diameter of the electrospun nanofiber decreased with an increase in CNF content. The diam-eter and its distribution of the electrospun nanofibers helped explain the differences observed in their morphology. These results show that the electrospinning method was successful in preparing uniform CNF/PVA nanofibers, indicating a great potential for manufacturing consistent and reliable cellulose-based nanofibrils for scaffolds in future applications