Although cellulose is extensively available and has been used as fibers in native and regenerated form, it is difficult to dissolve cellulose in electrospinnable solvents and therefore there are limited reports on producing electrospun cellulose fibers. Ionic liquids that have been used to dissolve cellulose and produce regenerated fibers have also been used to develop electrospun fibers [08Xu]. Cotton linters with a degree of polymerization of 1,600 were dissolved using 1-allyl-3-methylimi — dazolium chloride (AMIMCl) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) by stirring at 80 °C for 1 h. Fibers with diameters ranging from 100 to 800 nm were obtained using solution concentrations from 3 to 5 %. Addition of DMSO decreased the surface tension, entanglement density, and viscosity of the solution leading to the formation of nanofibers. Cellulose in the electrospun fibers had low crystallinity

and was considered to be in the cellulose II form. Cellulose was dissolved in [Bmim][Cl] and heparin was added for potential use of the fibers for construction of artificial blood vessels [06Vis]. Although limited information was presented on the properties of the fibers, it was reported that heparin retained the anticoagulant property even after high voltage electrospinning.