Core–sheath functional polymer nanofibers prepared by co-electrospinning

Abstract

Core–sheath polymer nanofibers with optoelectronic materials as the sheath and easily spinnable polymer as the core were prepared by co-electrospinning. Three prototypical systems of polystyrene/poly( p-phenylene vinylene) (PS/PPV), poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly( p-phenylene vinylene) (PVA/PPV) and polystyrene/tris(8-quinolinolato) aluminum (PS/Alq 3) were investigated. The fluorescence microscopy images showed that the resulting nanofibers with uniform morphologies exhibited outstanding emission properties. The core–sheath structures of these nanofibers were observed by TEM investigation. The photoluminescence spectra indicated that the fluorescent properties of these functional core–sheath nanofibers could be influenced by the interaction between core and sheath materials.