Porous electrospun nanocomposite mats based on chitosan–cellulose nanocrystals for wound dressing: effect of surface characteristics of nanocrystals

• Published in: Cellulose (London) 2015, Vol.22 (1), p.521-534
• Main Authors: Naseri, Narges, Mathew, Aji P, Girandon, Lenart, Fröhlich, Mirjam, Oksman, Kristiina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bioorganic Chemistry; Cellulose; Cellulose fibers; Ceramics; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chitosan; Composites; Crosslinking; Electrospinning; Glass; Hydrochloric acid; Mats; microscopy; Modulus of elasticity; Nanocomposites; Nanocrystals; Natural Materials; Organic Chemistry; Original Paper; permeability; Physical Chemistry; Polyethylenes; Polymer Sciences; Porosity; spinning; Stem cells; Sulfuric acid; Surface properties; Sustainable Development; tensile strength; Trä och bionanokompositer; viscosity; Water vapor; Wood and Bionanocomposites; Wound healing; zeta potential
• ISSN: 0969-0239; 1572-882X; 1572-882X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10570-014-0493-y

Randomly oriented fiber mats of chitosan–polyethylene oxide matrix reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were prepared by electrospinning technique. The cellulose nanocrystals used were isolated using hydrochloric acid (CNCHCₗ) or sulphuric acid ([Formula: see text]) and the concentration of CNCs was 50 wt% in the electrospun mats. The surface characteristics of the nanocrystals were found to affect the dispersion, viscosity, conductivity and zeta-potential of the respective spinning solutions and resulted in better spinnability, homogeneity as well as crosslinking of CNCHCₗbased nanocomposite fiber mats compared to [Formula: see text] ones. The microscopy studies showed that the diameter of the electrospun fibers decreased with the inclusion of both types of nanocrystals and that crosslinking decreased the porosity of the mats. The tensile strength and tensile modulus of the mats increased with the addition of nanocrystals and increased further for the CNCHCₗbased mats (58 MPa, 3.1 GPa) after crosslinking. The as-spun CNCHCₗbased mats had average pore diameters of 1.6 μm and porosity of 38 %. The water vapor permeability and the O₂/CO₂transmission increased with the addition of CNCHCₗ. The used nanocrystals as well as electrospun mats showed non-cytotoxic impact on adipose derived stem cells (ASCs), which was considered favorable for wound dressing.