Self cleaning nanofiber webs

The performance of chemical protective materials is an important and sensitive issue as it is associated with human safety and therefore, the development of highly efficient chemical protective materials is always a continuous process. The emergences of nanotechnology opened up so many research areas and electrospun nanocompositefiber is a potential candidate that could be used as a self detoxifying material. Incorporation of the reactive components into nanofibers makes them functionally active and depending on the nature and activity of the reactive components, nanofibers can be used in different types of filtering media, chemical protective materials, tissue engineering, drug delivery etc. In this study, nanocrystalline magnesium oxide has been considered as the functionalizing agent as it has the ability to react with chemical warfare agents and organophosphorous compounds. Electrospinning technique has been used to fabricate polyethylene oxide nanofiber embedded with nanocrystalline magnesium oxides. The nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction method (XRD). Nanocompositefibers in the range of 50 nm to 250 nm have been produced in the laboratory. Thermogravimetric analyzer has been used to study the adsorption characteristics of nanofiber composites and impressive results have been obtained from this study.