Screen printing of cellulose electrospun nanofibres with PDA polymer

Herein, the preparation of print paste formulation containing the PDA (Polydiacetylene) polymer has been investigated for the first time. Screen printing method was employed to apply the prepared print paste on cellulose ENMs, and the Electrospinning method was used to fabricate cellulose acetate ENM followed by its deacetylation to prepare CEL ENMs. Distinct blue colour was developed with 254 nm UV-irradiation of printed CEL ENMs. We achieved good colour strength (K/S = 3.1) on printed ENMs, excellent colourfastness to washing (staining on multifibre: rating 5) and colourfastness to light (blue wool scale: rating 1). We found that the printed CEL ENMs can be effectively used as thermochromic sensor as it induced blue-to-red colour transition at 80 degrees C. Moreover, it has demonstrated solvatochromic property when incubated in NaOH. Mechanical properties (Tensile strength and wrinkle recovery), chemical structure (ATR-FTIR spectroscopy) as well as surface morphology (SEM analysis) of ENMs were also determined.

Automated summary

The study investigated the preparation of print paste formulation containing PDA polymer and applied it on cellulose ENMs through screen printing and electrospinning method to produce distinctive blue CEL ENMs. The printed ENMs exhibited good colorfastness and color strength, and showed potential as thermochromic sensors under specific conditions.