Facile preparation of cross-linked porous poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibers by electrospinning

We reported a facile strategy for fabricating cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanofibers with internal nanopore structure. PVA nanofibers encapsulated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles were produced by electrospinning, in which nanopores were generated by removal of Fe3O4 particle template and cross-linking of PVA simultaneously. The cross-linked PVA nanofibers had enhanced thermal stability compared with that of the as-spun pure ones. It is shown that the pores were uniformly distributed all over the fibers, with an average size of 12nm. This new method, which can be used to prepare nanoporous PVA nanofibers simply at low cost, is suitable for practical applications. •We demonstrated a novel strategy for preparing cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibers with nanoporous structure.•Fe3O4 nanoparticle template was removed and PVA was cross-linked in one step for the nanopore generation.•The pores with an average size of 12nm are uniformly distributed all over the fibers.