Biopolymer Nanofiber

A special issue of Fibers (ISSN 2079-6439).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2018) | Viewed by 32772

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607-7022, USA
Interests: nonwovens; electrospinning; solution blowing; melt blowing; advanced manufacturing; micro/nanoscale thermal-fluid; polymer and oxide materials; nano-structured materials; drug delivery; alternative energy; building science; acoustics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Modern technology is experiencing a significant shift towards biobased polymers, caused by their biodegradablity, renewable sources, or due to their “green” agricultural biomolecular origin. The shift is driven by a necessity to reduce dependence on synthetic materials, namely on petroleum-derived polymers. In fact, according to some estimates, almost 40% of global production of petroleum is used to produce petroleum-based polymers. The recent push towards a sustainable future (e.g., the Paris Climate Accord, etc.) is also pushing industry to minimize their dependence on petroleum. As a result, significant efforts are directed toward production of biopolymers. Biopolymer-based nanofibers are going to play a significant part in this effort owing to sustainability with added functionality from biopolymers.

In this Special Issue, biopolymer-based nanofibers original research papers, as well as reviews, are welcome. The goal is to gather contributions on various aspects related to biopolymer based nanofibers, namely, manufacturing methods, functional applications (e.g., drug delivery, power storage device, filtration, etc.), molecular characterizations, numerical modeling, etc.

I hope that this Special Issue will provide the scientific community a thorough overview of the current research on “Biopolymer Nanofibers”.

Dr. Suman Sinha Ray
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fibers is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • Biopolymer based nanofiber
  • Manufacturing en masse
  • Functional Applications
  • Molecular Charachterization
  • Novel production method
  • Numerical modeling

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 3178 KiB  
Article
Production of Nanocellulose from Pineapple Leaf Fibers via High-Shear Homogenization and Ultrasonication
by Melbi Mahardika, Hairul Abral, Anwar Kasim, Syukri Arief and Mochamad Asrofi
Fibers 2018, 6(2), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib6020028 - 03 May 2018
Cited by 142 | Viewed by 14450
Abstract
In this study, the isolation and characterization of nanocellulose from pineapple leaf fibers (PLF) were carried out. Chemical pretreatment included pulping, bleaching, and acid hydrolysis to remove lignin, hemicellulose, and extractive substances were conducted. This was followed by high-shear homogenization and ultrasonication to [...] Read more.
In this study, the isolation and characterization of nanocellulose from pineapple leaf fibers (PLF) were carried out. Chemical pretreatment included pulping, bleaching, and acid hydrolysis to remove lignin, hemicellulose, and extractive substances were conducted. This was followed by high-shear homogenization and ultrasonication to produce nanocellulose. Morphological changes to the PLF due to treatment were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This showed that the PLF had a diameter of 1–10 µm after high-shear homogenizing. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that the nanofibers after ultrasonication for 60 min showed 40–70 nm diameters. Particle size analysis (PSA) indicates that the fibers had an average diameter of 68 nm. Crystallinity index was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and had the highest value after acid hydrolysis at 83% but after 60 min ultrasonication, this decreased to 62%. Meanwhile, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy showed there was no chemical structure change after acid hydrolysis. The most significant finding from thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) is that the higher degradation temperature of nanofibers indicates superior thermal stability over untreated fiber. These results indicate that PLF waste could become a viable source of commercially valuable nanocellulose. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biopolymer Nanofiber)
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Review

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53 pages, 11327 KiB  
Review
A Review on Biopolymer-Based Fibers via Electrospinning and Solution Blowing and Their Applications
by Ashish Kakoria and Sumit Sinha-Ray
Fibers 2018, 6(3), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib6030045 - 02 Jul 2018
Cited by 116 | Viewed by 17732
Abstract
Electrospinning, for the last few decades, has been extensively acknowledged for its ability to manufacture a macro/nanofibrous architecture from biopolymers, which is otherwise difficult to obtain, in a cost effective and user-friendly technique. Such biopolymer nanofibers can be tailored to meet applications such [...] Read more.
Electrospinning, for the last few decades, has been extensively acknowledged for its ability to manufacture a macro/nanofibrous architecture from biopolymers, which is otherwise difficult to obtain, in a cost effective and user-friendly technique. Such biopolymer nanofibers can be tailored to meet applications such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, filtration, fuel cell, and food packaging etc. Due to their structural uniqueness, chemical and mechanical stability, functionality, super-high surface area-to-volume ratio, and one-dimensional orientation, electrospun biopolymer nanofibers have been proven to be extremely beneficial. A parallel method in nonwoven methodologies called “Solution Blowing” has also become a potential candidate to fabricate a similar type of architecture from biopolymer fibers, and is gaining popularity among researchers, despite its recent advent in early 2000’s. This review chiefly focuses on the fabrication of biopolymer macro/nanofibers via electrospinning and solution blowing, and several applications of such fiber architectures. Biopolymers include plant- and animal-derived biopolymers, such as cellulose, lignin, chitin, and chitosan, as well as proteins and their derivatives. The fabrication of biopolymer fibers from these biopolymers alone or as blends, predominantly with biodegradable polymers like Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Polyethylene Oxide (PEO), Polyethylene glycol (PEG), poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) etc., or non-biodegradable polymers like polyamide, Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) etc., will be discussed in detail, along with the applications of several composites of such sort. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biopolymer Nanofiber)
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