Low-surface-free-energy polybenzoxazine/polyacrylonitrile fibers for biononfouling membrane

We blended poly(3-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-1,3-benzoxazine) (PBA) into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) to generate low-surface-free-energy fibers without fluorine and silicon elements for electrospinning. Liquid-state BA at room temperature can be solidified in electrospinning process using PAN as a medium through their miscible behavior. Results indicate that the mixing below 50 wt% BA into PAN matrix for electrospinning has no significant dropping beads, indicated a miscible PAN/BA system. Above 70 wt% BA in PAN solution could not be solidified completely after electrospinning, revealed apparent beaded fibers. The PAN/PBA blend fibers, obtained after curing at 300 °C, generated a superhydrophobicity because of the low-surface-free-energy PBA. In addition, laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) measurements were included to determine the relative amount of antibody that adsorbed to these PAN/PBA fibers to examine the biofouling-resistant property. The results showed an obviously decreased protein adsorption with increasing PBA fraction. The correlations between PAN and PBA would provide insight into the designing and developing of low-surface-free-energy fibers without fluorine and silicon elements to improve biofouling-resistant property.