Biopolymer-Based Nanofiber Mats and Their Characterization and Applications

Due to environmental and economical concerns, it is of significant interest to substitute synthetic materials with biodegradable products. Specifically, protein-based biomaterials produced as by-product of biofuel production have great potential to be applied in industry. They are cheap, abundant, and sustainable resources for proteins. The present thesis aims at producing nanofibers from plant-based proteins using 'solution blowing' method. Produced nanofibers undergo tensile testing to reveal their mechanical properties and two novel theoretical methods are developed to characterize these materials' behavior. Furthermore, protein-based nanofibers are applied for different applications such as antibacterial agents and carriers for drug delivery.