Preparation of anti-bacterial cellulose fiber via electrospinning and crosslinking with β-cyclodextrin

In the study, we successfully produced electrospun cellulose fibers crosslinked with beta-CD. For electrospinning, cellulose was dissolve in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate and DMF was added to the prepared solution for better spinnability. The prepared cellulose fiber was immersed in the solution containing beta-CD, crosslinking agent and sodium hypophosphite. In order to understand the effect of a crosslinking agent, two different types of the agents, BTCA (1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid) and citric acid with various concentrations were used for cross-linking. The crosslinking degree was increased with the concentration of the crosslinking agents, for the both agents. The cross-linked web changed into membrane like morphology when the concentration of the cross-linking agent was higher than 5 wt%. The concentration of crosslinking agent also gave influence on the crystallinity, the thermal property and the antibacterial activity of fibers. Due to the cross-linking the crystallinity was decreased. The crosslinked fiber showed selective bacterial behavior according to the bacterial strain and the cross-linking agent.