Preparation and characterization of electrospun cellulose acetate sub-micro fibrous membranes

Electrospun sub-microfiber membrane of cellulose acetate (CA), with excellent biodegradability, high specific surface area and high porosity, has attracted wide attention in various research fields. Even so, the stable continuous electrospinning of CA sub-micro fibers is affected by the solution parameters and CA acetylation degree dramatically, which still remains challenging. In the present work, electrospun CA sub-micro fibrous membranes have been prepared from four distinct solvent systems, respectively, to explore the proper solution parameters for membrane fabrication. After hydrolysis and electrospinning, the produced CA sub-micro fibrous membranes were analyzed in terms of fiber size distribution, hydrophilicity and porosity. Current analysis has shown that the degree of substitution of CA sub-micro fibers decreases with the increase in hydrolysis time, resulting in increased diameter irregularity, decreased average porosity and increased hydrophilicity of the sub-micro fibrous membrane.