The work aims to prepare and characterize electrospun fiber films of polylactic acid (PLA), PLA/cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), and PLA/graft-modified cellulose nanocrystals (CNC-g-PLLA), and to investigate the effect of improving the compatibility between CNC and PLA on the properties of the composite fiber films. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were modified via ring-opening polymerization grafting with L-lactide (L-LA), and the structure of CNC-g-PLLA was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR). Subsequently, PLA/CNC and PLA/CNC-g-PLLA composite fiber films were fabricated by electrospinning blends of PLA with different proportions of CNC or CNC-g-PLLA (based on the weight of PLA). The morphology, crystallization behavior, thermal stability, and mechanical properties of the resulting fiber films were systematically evaluated. CNC-g-PLLA effectively improved the dispersion and interfacial compatibility of CNC in the PLA matrix. Compared with pure PLA, the PLA/CNC-g-PLLA composite fiber films exhibited significantly enhanced morphological uniformity, reduced fiber diameter, increased crystallinity, improved thermal stability, and enhanced tensile strength and elongation at break. At a content of 1-3 wt%, both the 5% weight loss temperature (T5%) and the maximum decomposition temperature (Tmax) significantly increased. The tensile strength reached a peak of 6.24 MPa when the CNC-g-PLLA content was 3 wt%. The graft modification of CNC with L-LA effectively addresses the issues of poor dispersion and inferior interfacial compatibility of CNC in the PLA matrix, achieving a firm bonding between the reinforcing phase and the matrix via chemical bonds. The prepared composite fiber film, with its excellent mechanical properties and thermal stability, shows promise for applications as biodegradable packaging materials or tissue engineering scaffolds.
Key words
polylactic acid /
cellulose nanocrystals /
electrospinning /
L-lactide
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