Fabrication And Properties Of PS/Eu³⁺ Composites Nanofibers

Rare earth doped polymer materials have potential applications in the fields ofdisplays, light illuminations, and sensor detections etc., due to the combinedcharacteristics of rare earth ions and polymer materials. The study on the preparationand properties of eare earth doped polymer composite materials has been a hot topicin the field of material science. Electrospinning technique is an effective method toprepare kinds of one dimensional polymer nanofibers. The process is simple and theproducts with high surface area, large aspect ratio, and high porosity, can be widelyapplied in medical, biology, catalysis, textile etc.The polystyrene/Eu³⁺ions composites nanofibers were obtained by the sol-gelprocess and electrospinning the precursor solution with polystyrene （PS）, Eu（NO₃）₃and N,N-dimethyl formamide （DMF）. The composite nanofibers were characterizedby scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FT-IR）,photoluminescence spectrum （PL）, differential thermal analysis （DTA）, and contactangle instrument. The morphology is varied by tuning the spinning parameters and theconcentration ratio of PS to Eu（NO₃）₃. The results showed that the compositeproducts could be changed from fibers to ribbons structures by increasing theconcentration of Eu³⁺ions in the precursor solution. Moreover, under the sameelectrospinning voltage, the intensities of PL spectra increased gradually withincreasing the Eu³⁺doping concentration. However, when the concentration of Eu³⁺ions was15%, the quenching phenomenon was observed. The emission intensitieswere also increased with increasing the electrospinning voltages. In addition,compared with the pure PS nanofibers, the hydrophobic property of Eu³⁺doped PSnanofibers was greatly enhanced due to their large porosity and diameters.