Cyclodextrin short-nanofibers using sacrificial electrospun polymeric matrix for VOC removal

Abstract

Cyclodextrins (CD) are cyclic oligosaccharides that can form noncovalent host-guest inclusion complexes to yield intriguing supramolecular structures. Electrospinning of nanofibers from CD is challenging since they are small molecules, nonetheless, electrospun nanofibers from CD would be particularly attractive because of the distinctive properties obtained by combining the very large surface area of nanofibers along with the inclusion complexation capability of CD. Herein, we performed the electrospinning of native CD type (i.e. γ-CD) using a minimal amount of carrier polymeric matrix (polyethylene oxide (PEO)). Once, the uniform nanofibers were electrospun from γ-CD/PEO systems, the polymeric carrier matrix was selectively removed by simple washing procedure, at the end, γ-CD short-nanofibers were obtained. We observed that γ-CD short-nanofibers could remove volatile organic compounds (VOC) (i.e. aniline) due to the inclusion complexation capability whereas pristine γ-CD powder could not have the capability for the VOC removal.

Application of Electrospun Water-Soluble Synthetic Polymers for Multifunctional Air Filters and Face Masks

“…Electrospinning is not limited to synthetic or natural origin polymers but can also be applied to metals, metal oxides, ceramics, and various organic/inorganic composite systems. In some cases, polymers are just used as carriers or sacrificial templates to enhance the spinnability of some precursors, e.g., cyclodextrins [47]. The incorporation of inorganic nanomaterials such as nanoparticles (NPs) into electrospun polymers can be obtained using different methods.…”

Model-based electrospinning process design for nanofibers production

“…Nanofibers fabricated via electrospinning process exhibit unique properties, especially very large surface area to volume ratio, high pore density and design flexibility for physical or chemical functionalization [2,3]. Due to this fact, researchers concentrate their effort to develop the new application areas for electrospun nanofibers [1,4].…”

“…There are many research papers that have reveal promising results of combining very high nanofibers surface area and complexation ability of cyclodextrins (CDs) [2,3,7]. Cyclodextrines are cyclic oligosaccharides produced by enzymatic conversion of starch.…”

“…By forming non covalent host-guest complexes they can entrap variety of organic molecules, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Cyclodextrins can exist in the three forms: α, β and γ [3,8,9].…”

“…One of the most promising solutions for obtaining functionalized electrospun nonwovens dedicated to the phenolphthalein removal is production of the polystyrene (PS) nanofibers containing β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) [2]. In turn, nonwovens for aniline incarceration can be yielded through the electrospinning of γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) using a small amount of polyethylene oxide (PEO) [3]. An interesting solution also seems to be electrospinning of the hydroxypropylbeta-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) and hydroproxypyl-gammacyclodextrin (HPγCD) for entrapment tests of aniline and benzene [7].…”