Nanofibers prepared by electrospinning from solutions of biobased polyamide 4

A successful preparation of polyamide 4 nanofibers via electrostatic spinning with diameters close to 100 nm is described. Polyamide 4 was prepared by the anionic ring‐opening polymerization of 2‐pyrrolidone and characterized. The effect of the system parameters (i.e., molar mass of the polymer, the solvent system) and the process parameters (i.e., the electrode‐to‐collector distance) during the electrostatic spinning have been studied. The morphology of the polyamide 4 fiber layers is given except molar mass of the polymer and the concentration of its solution primarily by the conformation of polyamide chains due to polyelectrolyte effect which was confirmed by viscosity measurements. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 2203–2210     

The preparation and adsorption properties of electrospun aramid nanofibers

The focus of this work is the preparation of aramid nanofibers via electrospinning technology and the study of their adsorption properties. In this article, aramid nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning aramid fibers solution with the addition of lithium chloride (LiCl). It showed a good adsorption capacity when methylene blue (MB) was used as the model target. There were much larger adsorption amounts and faster kinetics of uptaking target species of electrospun aramid nanofibers to MB than that of electrospun polyethersulfone (PES) nanofibers. Compared with activated carbon, aramid nanofibers also have a much faster adsorption rate to MB. Aramid nanofibers were subsequently used to effectively remove endocrine disruptors such as bisphenol A (BPA), phenol (Phe), and p‐hydroquinone (BPhe) from their aqueous solutions. Additionally, molecule imprinted technology enhances aramid nanofibers with much higher adsorption amounts and special adsorption property for endocrine disruptors. These results showed that aramid nanofibers have the potential to be used in environmental applications. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012     

Fabrication and Optimization of Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Zirconium Acetate Electrospun Nanofibers Using Taguchi Experimental Design

This paper presents an investigation regarding poly(vinyl alcohol)/zirconium acetate (organic–inorganic) (PVA/Zrace) nanofibers prepared by electrospinning which could be used as a precursor for fabricating ceramic metal oxide nanofibers. The effect of some processing variables, including polymer solution concentration, tip to collector distance and applied voltage of electrospinning, and the amount of Zrace and their interactions, on the diameter of the nanofibers were studied. Taguchi experimental design and a statistical analysis (ANOVA) were employed and the relationship between experimental conditions and yield levels determined. It was concluded that to obtain a narrow diameter distribution as well as maximum fiber fineness, a polymer concentration of 10 wt%, tip to collector distance of 18 cm and applied voltage of 20 kV variables were the optimum. Furthermore, it was also concluded that the ratio of Zrace (6 g) to PVA solution (10% wt) played an important role for achieving the minimum fiber diameter. Under these optimum conditions, the diameters of the electrospun composite fibers ranged from 86 nm to 381 nm with a diameter average of 193 nm. The experiments were done with Qualitek-4 software with “smaller is better” as the quality characteristics. The optimized conditions showed an improvement in the fibers diameter distribution and the average fibers diameter showed good resemblance with the result predicted using the Taguchi method and the Qualitek-4 software. The ANOVA results showed that all factors had significant effects on the fibers diameter and distribution, but the effect of PVA concentration and zirconium acetate were more significant than the other factors.     

Novel fabrication of magnetic thermoplastic nanofibers via melt extrusion of immiscible blends

A novel technique of fabricating magnetic thermoplastic nanofibers by the control of the phase separation of immiscible polymer blends during melt extrusion was presented. The magnetic poly(vinyl alcohol‐co‐ethylene) (PVA‐co‐PE)/Fe₃O₄ composite nanofibers were prepared via the melt extrusion of cellulose acetate butyrate matrix and PVA‐co‐PE preloaded with different amounts of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. The morphologies of magnetic composite nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The uniform dispersion of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles in nanofiber matrixes and crystal structures were confirmed using transmission electron microscopy and wide angle X‐ray diffraction. Thermogravimetric analysis was employed to quantify the exact loading amount of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles in the composite nanofibers. The magnetic measurements showed that composite nanofibers displayed superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature. With increasing content of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, the saturation magnetization of the magnetic composite nanofiber significantly improved. The prepared magnetic composite nanofibers might have found potential applications in the sensors and bio‐molecular separation fields. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Separation Membranes Constructed from Inorganic Nanofibers by Filtration Technique

Nanofibrous materials have been extensively investigated and used as building blocks for various nanodevices, due to their unique one‐dimensional structures. Recently, novel membranes constructed by using nanofibers have been reported by various techniques. Here, we will give a critical review of our recent research on the general solution processed unique sub‐3 nm thin metal hydroxide nanofibers and their application for constructing ultrathin separation membranes via filtration technique. The superior separation performances of these membranes hold the promising future for pressure‐driven membrane separation processes.