Thermally Crosslinked Chitosan-EDTA/PVA Electrospun Nanofiber Mats: Crosslinking Conditions

Abstract

This work was aimed to develop thermally crosslinked chitosan/PVA nanofiber mats. The CS/PVA nanofibers were fabricated using elctrospinning process. The appropriate crosslinking temperatures and crosslinking times in order to thermally crosslinked CS/PVA nanofiber and physicochemical properties of the thermally crosslinked nanofibers were investigated. The morphology of the nanofiber mats was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The water insolubilization and FTIR were employed to evaluate the success of crosslinking. Increasing the crosslinking time and temperature, the crosslink was increased, thus causing a decrease of water solubilization. The temperature and time for successful crosslinking were 180-200 °C and 0.5-5 h, respectively.