Processing of Natural Polymer-nanocomposites using Ionic Liquids as ``Green Solvents''

We report fiber spinning of natural polymers such as cellulose and silk using ionic liquids. Ionic liquids can dissolve cellulose and silk and are less hazardous that the traditional solvents used for dissolving cellulose. We use imidazoluim based ionic liquids as a common solvent to process natural polymers and carbon nanotubes. Cellulose/carbon nanotubes based fibers are spun using wet spinning process. The rheological, mechanical thermal and electrical properties of the fibers are measured. We also characterize the cellulose nanocomposites fibers using ionic liquids by SEM/TEM, X-ray diffraction, TGA and FTIR analysis. Silk and carbon nanotubes fiber processing is also reported using ionic liquids as common solvent.