Electrospinning has been widely applied to fabric fibrous nano-or submicron-materials due to its simple devices, low cost and controllable process.However, the layer-by-layer fiber stacking model can usually produce two-dimensional (2D) membranes with highly compacted structures which cannot be applied in the fields requiring for a loose and three-dimensional (3D) ultrafine fibrous architecture.Aiming to change the fiber stacking model, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were introduced into the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) electrospinning system in our study.The effects of Ag NPs contents and spinning power on the fiber bulk structures were investigated.It was revealed that, at a low power (8 kV), only 2 wt.% of Ag NPs were needed to produce a stable 3D fiber bulks, and the elevation in spinning power made the generation of 3D architecture more readily with a reduced requirement in the Ag NPs content.The possible mechanism was that the substantially enhanced conductivity of the spinning system endowed the quick reverse of charges on fibers and led to the repulsion between fibers and the fiber collector and among fibers.The specific pore volume of the obtained 3D fiber bulk was around 25 folds of the specific pore volume of the corresponding 2D fiber bulk.This research will provide a theoretical and practical basis for the development of 3D electrospinning technique and 3D ultrafine fibrous materials.
3D electrospinning silver nanoparticles polyacrylonitrile conductivity
Xiong Deng Xiaohui Wang Yu Zhang Jiancai Jiang Fei Liu Quan Zhu Wanshuang Liu Yiping Qiu Qiuran Jiang
Key Laboratory of Textile Science &Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua U National Cotton and Textile Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, China Department of Applied Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Dongh Donghua University Center for Civil Aviation Composites, Donghua University, China Key Laboratory of Textile Science &Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua U Key Laboratory of Textile Science &Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua U