Magnetic‐field‐assisted electrospinning highly aligned composite nanofibers containing well‐aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Composite nanofiber meshes of well‐aligned polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) nanofibers containing multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were successfully fabricated by a magnetic‐field‐assisted electrospinning (MFAES) technology, which was confirmed to be a favorable method for preparation of aligned composite nanofibers in this article. The MFAES experiments showed that the diameters of composite nanofibers decreased first and then increased with the increase of voltage and MWCNTs content. With the increase of voltage, the degree of alignment of the composite nanofibers decreased, whereas it increased with increasing MWCNTs concentration. Transmission electron microscopy observation showed that MWCNTs were parallel and oriented along the axes of the nanofibers under the low concentration. A maximum enhancement of 178% in tensile strength was manifested by adding 2 wt % MWCNTs in well‐aligned composite nanofibers. In addition, the storage modulus of PAN/PVP/MWCNTs composite nanofibers was significantly higher than that of the PAN/PVP nanofibers. Besides, due to the highly ordered alignment structure, the composite nanofiber meshes showed large anisotropic surface resistance, that is, the surface resistance of the composite nanofiber films along the fiber axis was about 10 times smaller than that perpendicular to the axis direction. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41995.

Preparation and Characterization of Highly Aligned Carbon Nanotubes/Polyacrylonitrile Composite Nanofibers

“…With the increase of the viscosity, the polymer chains resist electric field stretching, and the bending instability of jets can be suppressed. As a result, both the diameter and degree of alignment of composite nanofibers increased [1]. In addition, with the increase of the electrical conductivity, the surface charges of the electrospun jet increased, and the resultant force produced by the ring increased, according to our previous work [24].…”

Electrical anisotropy and multidimensional pressure sensor of aligned Fe3O4@silver nanowire/polyaniline composite films under an extremely low magnetic field

“…Anisotropic electrical conductivities have been observed in aligned lms, meshes, and nanopapers fabricated by different methods. The comparison of electrical anisotropy in the present study with literature 4,8,9,18,19,24,25,39,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58] is presented in Table 1. It is clear that the electrical anisotropy and electrical conductivity have an inverse relationship.…”

“…[35][36][37] However, to the best of our knowledge, the alignment of Ag-NWs with a magnetic eld assisted process has been rarely reported, particularly under a relatively low eld strength. Most alignments require enormous eld strengths, of the order of 0.1-10 T, 7,29,[38][39][40] which severely hinders their practical applications since high magnetic elds may be harmful to human health.…”

Magnetic Nanofibers: Unique Properties, Fabrication Techniques, and Emerging Applications

“…On the basis of that, aligned NFs were successfully obtained, and different NF patterns were prepared by changing the orientation of the substrate . Mei et al . fabricated composite NF meshes of well‐aligned polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) NFs containing multiwalled CNTs by a magnetic‐field‐assisted electrospinning technology, which was a favorable method for the preparation of aligned composite NFs.…”