Bio-based electrospun mats composed of aligned and nonaligned fibers from cellulose nanocrystals, castor oil, and recycled PET.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), castor oil (CO), and recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (rPET), were used to add value to renewable raw materials and to a recycled polymer produced worldwide, producing mats composed of fibers on the nano- and submicrometric (ultrathin) scales through a sustainable process. Bio-based electrospun mats composed of aligned (rotary collector) and nonaligned (static collector) nanofibers/ultrathin fibers were produced from the electrospinning of solutions prepared from rPET (mixed with CO, CNCs, or CNCs/CO). The contact angle results showed that the CNC mat surfaces composed of nonaligned fibers were hydrophilic, and in contrast, these surfaces were hydrophobic when composed of aligned fibers. Among the mats composed of nonaligned fibers, PET/CO/CNC exhibited storage and Young's moduli approximately eleven and ten times, respectively, better than those of neat rPET. The PET/CO/CNC mat showed both modulus and tensile strength values higher than those of PET/CNC, when characterized in the preferential direction of fiber alignment. Electrospun mats were obtained from environmentally sound raw materials with diversified properties, which were modulated by the type of collector used, as well as whether CO and CNC were mixed with rPET, and have the potential for use in applications such as membrane separation processes and biomedical applications.