Fabrication And Characterization Of Thermoplastic Functional Nanofiber

A novel technique of fabricating functional thermoplastic nanofibers by the control of the phase separation of immiscible polymer blends during melt extrusion was presented. The magnetic PVA-co-PE/Fe3O4 composite nanofibers and electric PVA-co-PE/MWNT composite nanofibers, as well as the pristine PVA-co-PE nanofibers and pristine PA6 nanofibers were prepared via the melt extrusion of cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) matrix and PVA-co-PE preloaded with different amounts of Fe3O4 nanoparticles or multi walled carbon nanotube. The morphologies of composite nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The dispersion of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and MWNT in nanofiber matrixes and crystal structures were confirmed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was employed to quantify the exact loading amount of Fe3O4 nanoparticles or MWNT in the composite nanofibers. The magnetic measurements showed that PVA-co-PE/Fe3O4 composite nanofibers displayed superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature. With increasing content of Fe3O4 nanoparticles, the saturation magnetization of the magnetic composite nanofiber significantly improved. But the electric measurements showed that the PVA-co-PE/MWNT composite nanofibers were not so electric as was expected. The prepared magnetic composite nanofibers might have found potential applications in the sensors and bio-molecular separation fields.