Physical and chemical characterization of PLA nanofibres and PLA/ZrO2 mesoporous composites synthesized by air-jet spinning

Abstract

Polylactic acid with zirconium oxide solution has been deposited by air-jet spinning to obtain a PLA/ZrO2 composite.Zirconium oxide is obtained by hydrothermal technique and the results indicate that zirconia is nanostructured, mesoporousand thermally stable. The precursor solutions are formed by different amounts of PLA and zirconia. PLA/ZrO2 composite isformed by nanofibres with a random distribution, non-porous and with diameter of fibres depending of PLA and zirconiaconcentrations. It is found that the incorporation of zirconia makes the PLA fibres harder, less flexible and mesoporous.However, the thermal properties are not affected by the zirconia incorporation. The findings show that PLA/ZrO2 compositecan be utilized as biomaterial.