Poly(meta-phenylene isophthalamide) nanofibers: Coating and post processing

Abstract

Electrospun nanofibers have applications in the areas of filtration, composites, biomaterials, and electronics. Controlling the surface properties of these nanofibers is important for many applications. Nanofibers can also be used as unique substrates for observing the growth of deposited films and creating nanoscale structures. In this work, electrospun poly(meta-phenylene isophthalamide) (MPD-I) nanofibers were used as substrates for creating nanoscale structures out of carbon-based materials and metals. MPD-I was used because it can be electrospun into nanofibers with diameters smaller than 10 nm and it has good thermal stability. MPD-I nanofibers were coated with carbon, copper, and aluminum using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and physical vapor deposition methods. Some of the aluminum-coated nanofibers were then converted into nanotubes. Transmission electron microscopy was used to determine the thickness, uniformity, and grain size of the coatings on the fibers and the nanotubes.

Electrospinning jets and polymer nanofibers

“…Electrospun nanofibers of poly(meta-phenylene isophthalamide) were coated with carbon or metals by chemical or physical vapor deposition techniques [57] and with various substances [58]. Fig.…”

“…48. Poly(meta-phenylene isophthalamide) fibers coated with carbon by a direct current magnetron sputtering process [57]. with a diameter of 90 nm.…”

“…The aluminum was converted to aluminum oxide by heating the nanofibers in air. The polymer disappeared, leaving a tube of aluminum and aluminum oxide [57]. The dark spots show that aluminum crystals that were favorably oriented to produce diffraction contrast [57] were around 10 nm in diameter.…”

Electrospun nanofibers for potential space-based applications

“…The typical experimental set-up for electrospinning has been described numerous times. [1][2][3]5] As illustrated in Fig. 1, the apparatus consists of a high voltage power supply, a polymer solution held in a pipette, and a collector plate.…”

“…As described in this paper and elsewhere [1,2], precursor compounds can be incorporated into the electrospinning solution that make it possible to produce metal oxide and silica nanofibers. Finally, low temperature physical and chemical vapor deposition methods and/or sol-gel techniques can be used to coat these nanofibers and provide systemspecific functionality [3,4]. In this paper we will be discussing the production of silica nanofibers via electrospinning by two methods, and their subsequent coating with aluminum nitride.…”