Titania Nanoparticles Doped Electrospun Membranes

Abstract

Electrospun membranes exhibit very promising properties, such as high surface area, high surface area-to-pore volume ratio, high pore interconnectivity, and uniform pore distribution. Nanoparticles are a promising alternative for improving the properties of the electrospun membranes. Titania nanoparticles, which are stable, resistant, and non-toxic, have various applications including water treatment, sensors, food additive and cosmetics. Due to the high hydrophilicity of titania nanoparticles, membrane fouling is reduced in titania nanoparticles doped membranes. Titania nanoparticle doped polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanocomposite electrospun membranes were prepared by electrospinning method in this work. Compared to bare PAN electrospun membranes 0.05% titania nanoparticles doped electrospun membranes have thinner nanofibers, higher hydrophilicity and almost 2 times lower bovine serum albumin adsorption, which shows lower fouling tendency.

Keywords

• electrospinning
• titania nanoparticles
• polyacrylonitrile
• electrospun membranes
• fouling