Preparation Of Alq3/Polymer Hybrid Fibers And Study On Their Properties

Electrospinning is a method for preparing nanofibers. When the charged solution is elongated in the air, nanofibers were obtained. Comparing with other methods for preparing nanofibers, electrospinning technology is facial and easily operated, which is considered to be an effective method for fabricating polymer nanofibers. The setup for electrospinning is made up by four parts, including needle, collector, system of supplying solution and high voltage transformer. In the electrospinning process, the surface of a polymer droplet, suspended at the tip of a needle, is charged by application of an electric field. As mutual charge repulsion on the drop surface overcomes surface tension, a charged polymer jet is ejected, travels for a certain distance in the air, and is collected as a fiber mat on a grounded collector screen. The materials used for electrospinning included polymers, ceramics, metals, and composites. Several potential applications for nanofibers have been suggested, such as reinforcement, filtration, cosmetic, clothing, sensor and artificial tissue.In the present paper, we have reported the preparation of PVP/Alq3 and PEO/Alq3 hybrid fibers by electrospinning and investigation on their properties. In the resulting fibers, Alq3 retains its excellent photoluminescence. The luminosity of fibers becomes stronger with the increasing content of Alq3. The results indicated that the concentration of polymer is a key factor in affecting the surface tension and viscosity of solution. In PEO/Alq3 hybrid fibers, the intrinsic semicrystalline feature of PEO makes Alq3 well dispersed. Compared with that of bulk Alq3, the crystalline phase of Alq3 in resulting fibers has changed, which may be owing to the interactions between Alq3 molecule and the oxygen atoms on PEO chains.Since the process of electrospinning method is very easy and the Alq3 hybrid fibers obtained possess excellent photoluminescence, this kind of hybrid fibers is expected to be applied for green-light devices such as green LEDs and green flat panel displays.