Preparation and characterization of polysaccharides/PVA blend nanofibrous membr...

• Author(s): Santos, Carla ; Silva, Carla J. ; Büttel, Zsófia ; Guimarães, Rodrigo ; Pereira, Sara B. ; Tamagnini, Paula ; Zille, Andrea
• Date: 2014
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/25257
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA); Chitosan; Cyanobacteria; Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS); Membrane; Electrospinning; Filtration
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

A series of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), PVA/chitosan (CS) and PVA/cyanobacterial extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) blended nanofibrous membranes were produced by electrospinning using a microfiltration poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) basal membrane, for potential applications in water filtration. Nanofibres were obtained from solutions of 20% (w/w) PVA with 1% (w/w) CS or EPS, using a weight ratio of 60/40. Blended nanofibres have shown a smooth morphology, no beads formation and diameters between 50 and 130 nm. Thermo-mechanical analysis demonstrated that there were inter and/or intramolecular hydrogen bonds between the molecules of PVA/CS and PVA/EPS in the blends. The electrospun blended PVA/EPS membrane showed better tensile mechanical properties when compared with PVA and PVA/CS, and resisted more against disintegration in the temperature range between 10 and 50 °C. Finally, the blended membranes have shown an increase in chromium binding capacity of 5%. This is the first successful report of a blended membrane of electrospinned cyanobacterial polysaccharide with PVA.