Dry‐jet wet electrospinning of native cellulose microfibers with macroporous structures from ionic liquids

In this study, we have provided a review of electrospun cellulose micro/nanofibres from ionic liquids and co-solvents from which we identify a lack of previous studies focusing on the structural morphology of the dry-jet wet electrospun native cellulose fibres from ionic liquids. We have therefore aimed to investigate factors influencing the structural morphology of cellulose/ionic liquid electrospun fibres and investigate the coagulation parameters on this morphology. The electrospinning of 10% w/v cellulose/([C2MIM][OAc] /MIM) (1/1, v/v) solution was shown to produce macroporous fibres with average diameters of 2.8±1.4 µm with pore sizes from 100-200 nm. We have found that coagulation bath type and immersion time affect the morphological structure of the electrospun fibres. The fibre spinnability, formation, and morphological structure are mainly dependent on the method used to collect and coagulate/solidify the fibres. The physical properties of the dissolved cellulose were measured and these are discussed in terms of the solution spinnability. The structural morphology of the electrospun cellulose fibres was characterised by SEM, and lastly the extraction of ionic liquid from the fibre body was confirmed by 1H NMR. The electrospun cellulose fibres morphology shows the formation of both micron and nanometre sized fibres with different morphological "macroporous" structures.