Multifunctional e-spun colloidal nanofiber structures from various dispersed blends of PVA/ODA-MMT with PVP/ODA-MMT, poly(VP-alt-MA) and AgNPs incorporated polymer complexes as electro-active platforms

Abstract

This work presented a new approach to fabricate polymer nanocomposites films with nanofiber structures from solution blends of poly(vinyl alcohol) + octadecyl amine-montmorillonite (ODA-MMT) (matrix) with poly(N-vinylpyrroli- done) + ODA-MMT (partner-1), poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone-alt-maleic anhydride) ((poly(VP-alt-MA)) + (ODA-MMT) (partner-2) and their silver (Ag)-carrying polymer complexes by electrospinning. Chemical and physical structures, surface morphologies, thermal behaviors, electrical conductivity and thermal resistance parameters of nanofiber structures were in- vestigated. Poly(VP-alt-MA) was used both as a crosslinker and a donor of the hydrophilic groups such as -COOH and -NH-C=O amide from pyrrolidone ring. Reactive poly(VP-alt-MA), in situ generated Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) and orig- inal partner polymer had an significant effect on the morphology and diameter distribution of nanofibers. High and excel- lent conductive behaviors were observed for the homopolymer and copolymer of VP based fiber structures, respectively. Upon successive chemical cross-linking of the nanofiber structures by reactive partner copolymer, the conductivity of nanofiber films as electro-active platforms dramatically increased to 3.90·10 -2 S·cm -1 at room temperature. Comparative analysis results also indicated that electrical properties strongly depended on the loaded reactive organoclay and in situ gen- erated AgNPs.