Issue 9, 2024

Rapid preparation of electrospun nanofibre sponges through supercritical CO2 drying

Abstract

Nanofibre sponges (NFS) – also known as nanofibre aerogels – are an intriguing class of ultralight, highly porous and flexible materials currently produced by self-assembly of prefabricated nanofibre building blocks. The synthesis of NFS involves a time-consuming freeze-drying step. Here, we report a fast method for the preparation of NFS using rapid critical point drying (CPD). Highly porous NFS were prepared from electrospun polyamid-6 (PA6) nanofibres by conventional freeze-drying and CPD with supercritical CO2 (scCO2). Their microscopic architecture and macroscopic properties such as mechanical strength, permeability, and liquid filtration properties towards microplastics were compared and a filtration mechanism was elaborated. Processing time was significantly reduced from a 48-hour drying step to <1 h by using CPD. The final nanofibre sponges were similar in porosity and mechanical strength, but their microscopic architecture and filtration behaviour (99.4% to 99.998%) were distinctive. The CPD process, already industrially used for the preparation of silica aerogels, has the potential for large-scale fabrication of nanofibre-based porous materials. Moreover, CPD is considered as an additional tool for tuning the microscopic architecture of such materials to the desired application.

Graphical abstract: Rapid preparation of electrospun nanofibre sponges through supercritical CO2 drying

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Sep 2023
Accepted
20 Mar 2024
First published
20 Mar 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Mater. Adv., 2024,5, 3929-3939

Rapid preparation of electrospun nanofibre sponges through supercritical CO2 drying

G. Mol, C. Fialová and C. Adlhart, Mater. Adv., 2024, 5, 3929 DOI: 10.1039/D3MA00781B

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