The effects of cellulose nanowhiskers on electrospun poly (lactic acid) nanofibres

The effects of cellulose nanowhiskers on the microstructure and thermal behaviour of electrospun poly (lactic acid) (PLA) nanofibres have been investigated in this study. The PLA/cellulose nanowhiskers composite nanofibres are successfully produced by electrospinning the mixtures of cellulose whiskers with PLA solution. The diameters of PLA and its composites are around 300 nm. The scanning electron micrographs show that the cellulose nanowhiskers do not protrude out of the outer surfaces of PLA nanofibres. The existence of cellulose nanowhiskers in the electrospun PLA matrix nanofibres, and the microstructural evolution are investigated by using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis shows the formation trend of PLA alpha crystal with the addition of cellulose nanowhiskers. The electrospun PLA and PLA/cellulose nanowhiskers composites reveal very low crystallinity due to the rapid solvent evaporation and relatively slow crystallisation kinetics character of PLA. The electrospun nanofibres show particularly different thermal behaviour from that of the solution cast films. The nanofibres of pure PLA and PLA/cellulose nanowhiskers experience two consecutively overlapping crystallisation processes. The cellulose nanowhiskers act as heterogeneous sites for nucleation of PLA by decreasing the cold crystallisation onset temperature. The incorporation of cellulose nanowhiskers into PLA nanofibres is expected to improve mechanical properties and bring new functionalities to the electrospun matrix nanofibres.