Internal Structure of Hydroxypropyl Cellulose Nanofibers Prepared by Electrospinning from Different Phases of Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

Liquid crystal polymer (LCP) nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning from hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) aqueous solutions at various concentrations and temperatures. At room temperature, the HPC aqueous solution exhibited an isotropic-cholesteric phase transition at 42 wt%. By increasing temperature, the solutions showed a biphasic structure—a mixture of LC and isotropic phases at 35–50°C. Smooth and bead-free HPC fibers were obtained by electrospinning from all, the isotropic, cholesteric, and biphasic solutions. In all the electrospun fibers, HPC molecules oriented parallel to the fiber axis with a spacing of 11 Å. In addition, the molecular orientation parameter along the fiber axis showed high values between 0.80 and 0.86 regardless of the difference in the structure of the aqueous solution.