Electrospinning of native cellulose from nonvolatile solvent system

Abstract Improving and understanding the electrospinnability of native cellulose in room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL) have been a hot issue in recent years. In this study, the electrospinning of cellulose in a highly efficient RTIL of 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AMIMCl) was investigated. The introduction of co-solvent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), which significantly decreased the surface tension, viscosity and entanglement density of the network and increased the conductivity of the spinning dope, contributed to a continuous jet. The problems lying in nonvolatility and the high ionic strength of the RTIL, which unavoidably led to the standing up vertically, adhesion and contractions of the wet fibers during the electrospinning process, were successfully resolved using a rotating copper-wire drum as a collector and solidifying the jet under high relative humidity. The water vapor played an important role in leading to “skin formation” which helped to stabilize the fibrous morphology, and finally smooth ultra-thin regenerated cellulose fibers were obtained. The combination of solvent system and collecting apparatus and conditions provided not only an effective method of producing ultra-thin native cellulose fibers on a large scale, but also a fundamental solution to other electrospinning systems with high ionic strength and nonvolatility. Measurements on WAXD and FT-Raman indicated that the electrospun cellulose fibers were almost amorphous with a little crystallization presented the polymorph of Type-II, which was totally different from the native cellulose with the dominated polymorph of Type-I.