Thermo-responsive nanofibers prepared from poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N-methylol acrylamide)

Thermo-responsive nanofibers were successfully prepared via electrospinning in this study. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N-methylol acrylamide), poly(NIPAAm-co-NMA), was used as the material for preparing the electrospinning nanofibers. Poly(NIPAAm-co-NMA) copolymers showed thermo-responsive property in aqueous solution, and such copolymers of NIPAAm and NMA were synthesized via random redox copolymerization. Here, NMA provided the thermal crosslinking function for the copolymer. Thermal curing process was then applied on the copolymer nanofibers for thermal crosslinking and the crosslinked nanofibers could keep the fiber morphology and the copolymer characters while soaking in water. The thermal curing conditions led to different swelling performance, LCST, and morphology of copolymer nanofibers while dipping in water. This study demonstrated that novel nanofibers exhibited thermo-responsive characteristics. The nanofibers of these copolymers were suggested for application as a new kind of sensors, drug carriers, and engineering tissues.