Coloration of cellulose nanofibres with pigments

Abstract Electrospun nanofibrous mats are popular for their wide technological applications as medical, filtration, sensing and high performance textiles. The potential for coloration of electrospun nanofibrous mats for aesthetic purposes has also been explored recently, and the pigment coloration of cellulose electrospun nanofibrous mats is reported for the first time in this paper. Cellulose acetate electrospun nanofibrous mats were fabricated using electrospinning followed by treatment with sodium hydroxide to synthesise regenerated cellulose electrospun nanofibrous mats. Then the cellulose mats were coloured with commercially available pigments by a pad‐dry‐bake method. Excellent K/S and colour fastness to both washing and light were produced with the application of three commercial pigments. The pH and total dissolved solids content of the coloration wastewater, as well as the mechanical properties of the electrospun nanofibrous mats, were also tested. Attenuated total reflection‐Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analysis were used for characterisation.