ENHANCING ELECTROSPINABILITY OF CHITOSAN: THE INFLUENCE OF PEO BLEND

JÚLIA AUDREM GOMES DE OLIVEIRA; RICARDO MARTÍNEZ GARCÍA; DJALMA SOUZA

Congreso; 17° CBPol (Congresso Brasileiro de Polímeros); 2023

The development of water filtration membranes for environmental preservation has garnered significant interest, with electrospinning being the favored technique for their production. Also, the polysaccharides have gained significant attention as highly promising natural materials that can replace synthetic polymers in various applications, including membranes, thanks to their abundant availability in nature. Chitosan (Ch) stands out as an aminopolysaccharide polymer with unique properties. However, chitosan faces challenges in electrospinning due to its polycationic nature and rigid chemical structure. Strong hydrogen bonds hinder the mobility of polymer chain segments exposed to the electric field, resulting in jet breakage during the electrospinning process. To enhance the electrospinning capability of chitosan, blending it with another natural or synthetic polymer, such as polyethylene oxide (PEO), has proven to be the most effective method. This study aimed to investigate the influence of incorporating PEO into chitosan. Chitosan and PEO solutions were prepared separately in 50 wt% aqueous acetic acid at a concentration of 4% w/v. The chitosan and PEO solutions were blended in an 80/20 ratio, respectively. Nanofibers were produced through the electrospinning process considering some processing parameters. The nanofiber morphology was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the results demonstrated that alterations in the processing parameters significantly influenced the characteristics of the nanofibers. In addition, the introduction of PEO had an impact on morphology, leading to the formation of more uniform fibers mitigating the electrospray effect when a pure chitosan solution was used. The electrospinning technique proved efficient in generating nanofibers from chitosan/PEO blends. However, the variation and combination of some parameters influenced the bead formation instead of fibers, a phenomenon observed in some samples.