Preparation of atactic poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate blend nanowebs by electrospinning

Through the blending of a rigid polymer, sodium alginate (SA), and a flexible polymer, atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), with various ratios of SA and PVA and through the electrospirnning of SA/PVA solutions, SA/PVA blend nanowebs were successfully prepared. The structure and morphology of the SA/PVA blend nanowebs were investigated through a series of instrumental analyses. Through the examination of the morphological variations of each blend web, it was found that with only PVA, the electrospun nanowebs had very uniform and fine fiber structures, but the SA/PVA blend nanowebs had a mixture of large beads and fibers, which were generated with increasing SA content. A thermal analysis indicated that the endothermic peaks of the SA/PVA blend nanowebs decreased with an increase in the SA content. The SA content was determined by the observation of the changes in the SA peak intensity via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The tensile strength decreased with increasing SA content. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.