A facile approach to synthesize highly conductive electrospun aramid nanofibers via electroless deposition

Abstract

Here in, we report a versatile, novel, and easy approach to fabricate highly durable and electrically conductive aramid nanofibers (ANFs). The ANFs were firstly fabricated via electrospinning and afterward, the conductive ANFs were prepared using electroless deposition (ELD) technique. The copper (Cu) metal was used to prepare conductive ANFs due to its significant advantages i.e. conductance. During the ELD process, parameters including time and temperature were studied to optimize proper deposition and performance. The optimized ANFs samples were characterized by FE-SEM, EDX, XRD, XPS, FTIR, TGA, water contact angle, and electrical conductance. Copper (Cu) deposition on ANFs achieved high electrical conductivity. The as ANFs shows good candidate for copper (Cu) deposition and provide good stability in terms of electrical conductance. The as-prepared Cu-ANFs could be used in various applications such as wearable electronics, flexible displays, and energy storage.