Synthesis of ultrafine polymer nanofibers

Rapid synthesis of polymer-silica hybrid nanofibers by biomimetic mineralization

Biomimetic formation of silica from polyamines such as poly(ethylene imine) (PEI), inspired by the proteins found in diatoms and sponges, has been actively investigated recently as a potential route to silica formation compared to the conventional sol–gel process. We report silica formation onto nanofibers of PEI blended with poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) obtained via electrospinning of their 5...

Rippling of polymer nanofibers.

This paper studies the evolution mechanism of surface rippling in polymer nanofibers under axial stretching. This rippling phenomenon has been detected in as-electrospun polyacrylonitrile in recent single-fiber tension tests, and in electrospun polyimide nanofibers after imidization. We herein propose a one-dimensional nonlinear elastic model that takes into account the combined effect of surfa...

Nanofibers Reinforced Polymer Composite Microstructures

Nanopottery: coiling of electrospun polymer nanofibers.

We show that a nanoscale polymer solution electrojet can coil to form free-standing hollow pottery as the jet is focused onto a sharp electrode tip. A scaling law is given based on the balance of the electrostatic compression force and the elastic resistance to predict the coil radius and frequency as the functions of relevant physical parameters. The structures formed by the nanofibers can be ...

Electrospinning carbon nanotube polymer composite nanofibers

The unique and exceptional physical properties of carbon nanotubes have inspired their use as a filler within a polymeric matrix to produce carbon nanotube polymer composites with enhanced mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. A powerful method of synthesising nanofibers comprising these polymer composites is electrospinning, which utilises an applied electric stress to draw out a thin...