Nano Fusion Technology Research Group, Division of Frontier Fibers, Institute for Fiber Engineering (IFES), Interdisciplinary Cluster for Cutting Edge Research (ICCER), Shinshu University, Tokida 3-15-1, Ueda, Nagano, 386-8567, Japan.
Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology and Materials, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, 76060, Sindh, Pakistan.
Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 17;10(1):15307. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72337-4.
The use of organic solvents for the preparation of nanofibers are challenged due to their volatile and hazardous behavior. Recently deep eutectic solvents (DES) are widely recognized as non-volatile and non-hazardous solvents which never been utilized directly for nanofabrication via electrospinning. Here, we present the preparation of Zein nanofibers using deep eutectic solvents (DES-Zein). The DES-Zein nanofibers were produced at an optimized polymer concentration of 45% (w/w) with pH 7.3 and electroconductivity 233 mS cm. DES-Zein nanofibers showed aligned to tweed like cedar leaf morphology tuned by varying the spreading angle from 0° to 90°. In contrast to hydrophobic conventional Zein nanofibers, DES-Zein nanofibers showed super hydrophilic character and about 200 nm finer average diameter. The proposed method of preparing Zein nanofibers using DES opens a new door to continuous electrospinning with tunable morphology, having potential to be used for environmental and biomedical applications.
由于有机溶剂的挥发性和危害性，它们在制备纳米纤维方面的应用受到了挑战。最近，深共晶溶剂（DES）作为一种非挥发性和非危害性的溶剂而被广泛认可，但从未被直接用于通过静电纺丝进行纳米制造。在这里，我们提出了使用深共晶溶剂（DES-Zein）制备玉米醇溶蛋白纳米纤维的方法。在优化的聚合物浓度为 45%（w/w）、pH 值为 7.3 和电导率为 233 mS cm 的条件下，制备出了 DES-Zein 纳米纤维。通过改变铺展角从 0°到 90°，DES-Zein 纳米纤维呈现出定向的、类似 tweed 样的雪松叶形态。与疏水的传统玉米醇溶蛋白纳米纤维不同，DES-Zein 纳米纤维表现出超亲水特性，平均直径约细 200nm。使用 DES 制备玉米醇溶蛋白纳米纤维的方法为具有可调形态的连续静电纺丝开辟了新的途径，有望用于环境和生物医学应用。
