Development of highly oil-absorbent polylactic-acid microfibers with a nanoporous structure via simple one-step centrifugal spinning

Optimization of Oil Sorbent Thermoplastic Elastomer Microfiber Production by Centrifugal Spinning

Fibrous structures are promising candidates for oil-water separation applications. In this study, we have produced poly(styrene-b-isobutylene-b-styrene) thermoplastic elastomeric fibers with the centrifugal spinning fiber production method. The optimal fiber production conditions were achieved when using a 25% w/w solution concentration in an 80/20 tetrahydrofuran/toluene (w/w) solvent system at 8000 rpm rotational speed. The produced fibers were bead-free and smooth-surfaced with a diameter of 3.68 µm. The produced fibers were highly hydrophobic and oleophilic, suggested by a water contact angle of 129° and the instantaneous absorption of the oil droplet. The oil absorption study showed fast absorption kinetics with 94% relative oil uptake after 1 min and a maximum of 16.5 g sunflower oil/g fiber. The results suggest that polyisobutylene-based thermoplastic elastomers could be promising alternatives in oil absorption applications.

Robust microfluidic construction of polyvinyl pyrrolidone microfibers incorporated with W/O emulsions stabilized by amphiphilic konjac glucomannan

In this work, we prepared polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) microfibers incorporated water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions. The W/O emulsions were fabricated by hexadecyl konjac glucomannan (HKGM, emulsifier), corn oil (oil phase) and purple corn anthocyanins (PCAs, water phase). The structures and functions of emulsions and microfibers were characterized by confocal laser scanning (CLSM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Raman and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The results showed that W/O emulsions exhibited good storage stability for 30 d. Microfibers presented ordered and uniform arrays. Compared with pure PVP microfiber films, the addition of W/O emulsions with PCAs improved the water resistance (WVP from 1.28 to 0.76 g mm/m² day kPa), mechanical strength (Elongation at break from 18.35 % to 49.83 %), antioxidation (free radical scavenging rate from 2.58 % to 16.37 %), and antibacterial activity (inhibition zone against E. coli: 27.33 mm and inhibition zone against S. aureus: 28.33 mm) of microfiber films. Results showed that microfiber film exhibited controlled release of PCAs in W/O emulsions, and about 32 % of the PCAs were released from the microfiber film after 340 min. The as-prepared microfiber films exhibited potential applications for food packaging.