Cellulose acetate-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-based functional surfaces with temperature-triggered switchable wettability

Abstract

Temperature-triggered switchable nanofibrous membranes are successfully fabricated from a mixture of cellulose acetate (CA) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) by employing a single-step direct electrospinning process. These hybrid CA-PNIPAM membranes demonstrate the ability to switch between two wetting states viz. superhydrophilic to highly hydrophobic states upon increasing the temperature. At room temperature (23 °C) CA-PNIPAM nanofibrous membranes exhibit superhydrophilicity, while at elevated temperature (40 °C) the membranes demonstrate hydrophobicity with a static water contact angle greater than 130°. Furthermore, the results here demonstrate that the degree of hydrophobicity of the membranes can be controlled by adjusting the ratio of PNIPAM in the CA-PNIPAM mixture. Temperature-triggered switchable nanofibrous membranes are fabricated from a mixture of cellulose acetate (CA) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) by employing a single-step direct electrospinning process. The degree of hydrophobicity of the membranes can be controlled by adjusting the ratio of PNIPAM in the CA-PNIPAM mixture.