Electrospinning of zein/chitosan composite fibrous membranes

Zein/chitosan composite fibrous membranes were fabricated from aqueous ethanol solutions by electrospinning. Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) was introduced to facilitate the electrospinning process of zein/chitosan composites. The asspun zein/chitosan/PVP composite fibrous membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and tensile tests. SEM images indicated that increasing zein and PVP concentrations led to an increase in average diameters of the composite fibers. In order to improve stability in wet stage and mechanical properties, the composite fibrous membranes were crosslinked by hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI). The crosslinked composite fibrous membranes showed slight morphological change after immersion in water for 24 h. Mechanical tests revealed that tensile strength and elongation at break of the composite fibrous membranes were increased after crosslinking, whereas Young's modulus was decreased.