Electrospinning of polymer nanofibers loaded with noncovalently functionalized graphene

Abstract

Pristine graphene/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning an aqueous solution of polyvinylpyrrolidone‐stabilized graphene and PVA. This is the first report of electrospun nanofibers reinforced with dispersed pristine graphene. We examine the relationship between graphene loading and critical electrospinning parameters. Microscopy indicates uniform fiber formation and excellent graphene dispersion within the fiber. Rheological data indicates that the excellent level of graphene dispersion enhances the modulus of the polymer by 205%. We also find that the graphene significantly increases the fibers' thermal stability (increase of 15°C) and crystallinity (59% increase) above the baseline. In fact, the graphene may act as nucleating points for increased crystallinity. These graphene/polymer nanofibers have the potential to serve in a variety of applications, including electrodes, conductive wires, and biomedical materials. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013

Preparation and characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol)/graphene nanofibers synthesized by electrospinning

“…The solution was then centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 3 minutes to remove aggregates from the GF and EG. The ultrasonication step for EG in the PVA solution may lead to exfoliation of the graphite to graphene sheets [2]. The composite solution was also centrifuged to remove the nonexfoliated graphite aggregates.…”

“…The properties of the nanofibers which makes them commercially important includes small diameter, large surface area and small pore size; which are ideal industrial requirements for filtration, catalysis and adsorption [2,3]. There are several techniques for production of nanofibers such as drawing, template synthesis, phase separation, self-assembly and electrospinning [1,4].…”

“…Recently graphitic material such as graphene derived from expanded graphite (EG) have been used as fillers by centrifuge and ultrasonication in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/PVA polymer matrix, but PVP leads to fragile fiber when electrospun [22]. This may be due to the fact that electrospinning of polymer/graphene composite matrix solution requires a homogeneous well dispersed graphene sheets in the polymer matrix solution [2] which is not easily achievable using EG and could also be due to the aggregation or agglomeration of the graphene sheets due to the dispersion forces (van der Waals and Casimir interactions) [23]. In this study, we explore the prospects of uniform dispersion of graphene foam and graphene derived from expanded graphite in hollow PVA polymer matrix nanofibers achieved by just optimizing growth parameters to enhance and/or modify their properties via electrospinning.…”

New Perspectives on Graphene/Polymer Fibers and Fabrics for Smart Textiles: The Relevance of the Polymer/Graphene Interphase

“…Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/pristine graphene fibers prepared by electrospinning, using an aqueous solution of polyvinylpyrrolidone to stabilize the graphene dispersion, demonstrated extraordinary enhancements in modulus (Das et al, 2013). Improved mechanical performance was also obtained for polycaprolactone (PCL)/graphene oxide (GO) and PCL/reduced GO (rGO) electrospun nanofibers in which orientation played an important role (Ramazani and Karimi, 2015).…”

Recent Progress on the Fabrication of Ultrafine Polyamide-6 Based Nanofibers Via Electrospinning: A Topical Review

“…Electrospinning process of different kinds of polymers and their composite was discussed based on the variety of aspects which include the experimental parameters, reduce the fiber diameter, blending other composites, alignment, orientation and so on [73][74][75]. Several polymers are combined with other composite materials to obtain composite nanofibers.…”