Functional Mesostructured Electrospun Polymer Nonwovens with Supramolecular Nanofibers

Abstract

Functional, hierarchically mesostructured nonwovens are of fundamental importance because complex fiber morphologies increase the active surface area and functionality allowing for the effective immobilization of metal nanoparticles. Such complex functional fiber morphologies clearly widen the property profile and enable the preparation of more efficient and selective filter media. Here, the realization of hierarchically mesostructured nonwovens with barbed wire-like morphology is demonstrated by combining electrospun polystyrene fibers, decorated with patchy worm-like micelles, with solution-processed supramolecular short fibers composed of 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamides with peripheral N,N-diisopropylaminoethyl substituents. The worm-like micelles with a patchy microphase-separated corona are prepared by crystallization-driven self-assembly of a polyethylene based triblock terpolymer and deposited on top of the polystyrene fibers by coaxial electrospinning. The micelles are designed in a way that their patches promote the directed self-assembly of the 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamide and the fixation of the supramolecular nanofibers on the supporting polystyrene fibers. Functionality of the mesostructured nonwoven is provided by the peripheral N,N-diisopropylaminoethyl substituents of the 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamide and proven by the effective immobilization of individual palladium nanoparticles on the supramolecular nanofibers. The preparation of hierarchically mesostructured nonwovens and their shown functionality demonstrate that such systems are attractive candidates to be used for example in filtration, selective separation and heterogenous catalysis.

Patchy stereocomplex micelles as efficient compatibilizers for polymer blends

“…[34][35][36][37][38][39][40] The patchy corona can be harnessed as template for the regioselective incorporation of nanoparticles opening applications in heterogeneous catalysis, [41][42][43][44] or for the construction of hierarchical superstructures when combined with supramolecular selfassembly. 45,46 Notably, worm-like patchy micelles show a comparable interfacial activity with respect to that of cylindrical Janus micelles. 47 This is attributed to the ability of the patchy corona to adjust to the interface by selective swelling/collapse of the respective soluble/insoluble surface patches.…”

Dual-Drug-Loaded Core–Shell Electrospun Nanofiber Dressing for Deep Burns

“…The fiber diameters usually range from a few micrometers to tens of nanometers. It has been reported that functional dressings are constructed by mixing a drug factor, − protein, , and nano bioactive agent − into EFs. Considerations should be given to preventing the sudden release of drugs.…”

Electrospinning of 1D Fiber‐Like Block Copolymer Micelles with a Crystalline Core

“…[3,47,48] Electrospun and coaxially electrospun fibers have various applications such as in biomedical engineering as tissue scaffolds, [49][50][51] or in optoelectronics as nanowires. [41,52] One of our groups and also others have previously demonstrated that coaxial electrospinning can be used to prepare polystyrene microfibers with a sheath of 1D polyethylene-core micelles, [3,43,45,53] yet the scope has not been extended beyond this crystalline core chemistry. Herein, we explore the electrospinning of a variety of different 1D fiber-like micelles by both coaxial and conventional electrospinning methods to access microfibers either exhibiting a core-shell structure or consisting solely of 1D micelles, respectively.…”