Nanofiber Fabrication of Alginate Ion Complexes with Different Cationic Surfactants

Highly purified alginate electrospun nanofibers have not yet been produced; thus, the fabrication of alginate into nanofibers is a great challenge. The OH groups of the repeating units in the polysaccharides act not only as interaction sites with water molecules but also in the formation of hydrogen-bonded complexes between them. The latter contributes to gelation and increases viscosity at low concentrations and must be one of the factors that make fiber difficult to produce. We have attempted a novel approach to obtain nanofibers by suppressing hydrogen bonding between alginate chains and their gelation. An ion complex with anionic alginate and a cationic surfactant could be considered to govern hydrogen-bonded aggregation, yielding nanofibers. This paper consists of two topics: first, the solution properties of the ion complex are discussed from the rheology of the solution and the molecular structure of the soluble ion complex. The other is the study of the structure and properties of nanofibers. It has been reported that ion complexes can be used to prepare alginate nanofibers.