Silk fibroin can be damaged or degraded during degumming process. Therefore, it is expected that different structure and properties of silk fibroin can be obtained by different degumming method. However, effect of degumming method on the structure and properties of regenerated silk has not been considered, yet. In this study, Effect of degumming method on the structure and properties of solution, film, and electrospun fiber of regenerated silk was examined. Order of viscosity of regenerated silk solution as follows : Urea method > Acid method, HTHP method > Soap/soda method, Soda method. This viscosity difference among the degumming method strongly influenced the electro-spinning performance of regenerated silk perpared from different degumming method. Also, solution turbidity, crystallinity index (from FTIR), mechanical properties of silk were remarkably affected by degumming method.

In this study, TiO2-Activated carbon (AC) complex fibers were prepared by electrospinning for the synergetic effect of adsorption and degradation of organic pollutant. The average diameter of these fibers increased with increasing the amount of AC added, except for 1AC-TOF (AC/TiO2 =1/40 mass ratio). After calcinations at 500℃, long as-spun fibers were broken and their average diameter was slightly decreased. The resultant fibers after calcination had rough surface and sphere shapes like a peanut. From XRD results, it was confirmed that as-spun fibers were changed to anatase TiO2 fiber after calcinations at 500℃. The prepared TiO2-AC complex fibers could remove procian blue dyes by solar light irradiation with high removal property of 94~99%. The PB dye was rapidly removed by adsorption during the initial 5 minutes. But after 5 minutes, dye removal was occurred by photodegradation. In this study, the most efficient AC/TiO2 ratio of TiO2-AC complex fibers was 5/40, showing the synergetic effect of adsorption and photodegradation. It is expected that the TiO2-AC complex fibers can be used to remove of organic pollutants in water system.

We have demonstrated the feasibility of using electrospinning method to fabricate long and continuous composite nanofiber sheets of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) incorporated with zinc oxide (ZnO). Such PAN/ZnO composite nanofiber sheets represent an important step toward utilizing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as materials to achieve remarkably enhanced physico-chemical properties. In an attempt to derive these advantages, we have used a variety of techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) to obtain quantitative data on the materials. The CNFs produced are in the diameter range of 100 to 350 nm after carbonization at 1000℃. Electrical conductivity of the random CNFs was increased by increasing the concentration of ZnO. A dramatic improvement in porosity and specific surface area of the CNFs was a clear evidence of the novelty of the method used. This study indicated that the optimal ZnO concentration of 3 wt% is enough to produce CNFs having enhanced electrical and physico-chemical properties.