Electrospun polyester/cyclodextrin nanofibers for entrapment of volatile organic compounds

Polyester (PET) nanofibers incorporating cyclodextrins (CD) were obtained via electrospinning. α-CD, β-CD, and γ-CD were used to functionalize PET nanofibers. Bead-free PET/CD nanofibers were obtained from lower polymer concentration indicating that the incorporation of CD in polymer solution improved the electrospinnability of the PET nanofibers. XRD studies indicated that CD were distributed into nanofiber without forming crystalline aggregates. FTIR peak shift was observed possibly due to interaction between CD and PET. TGA confirmed that initial CD loading (25%, w/w) in the polymer solution was preserved for the PET/CD nanofibers. The presence of most of CD on the surface of PET/CD nanofibers was confirmed by XPS analysis and contact angle measurement. DMA results indicated that incorporation of CD improved the mechanical property of the nanofibers. Our studies showed that PET/CD nanofibers can effectively entrap aniline vapor as a model volatile organic compound (VOC) from surrounding owing to their very large surface area and inclusion complexation capability of CD. The entrapment efficiency of aniline vapor was found to be better for PET/γ-CD nanofibers compared to PET/α-CD and PET/β-CD nanofibers. Our findings suggested that electrospun PET nanofibers functionalized with CD may be used as filtering material for removal of VOC in air filtration. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:2970-2978, 2014. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers.