Preparation of poly (vinyl alcohol) fibers strengthened using multiwalled carbon nanotubes functionalized with tea polyphenols

Abstract

Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) fibers were strengthened using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) functionalized using a green modifier tea polyphenols (TP). MWCNTs were first modified using TP to increase their dispersity in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/water solution, and then PVA was added to the dispersion to form new dispersion of PVA/MWCNTs/TP/DMSO/water. The homogeneous dispersion was extruded through a spinning hole into cold methanol to form continuous fibers using gel-spinning process followed by a hot-drawing. The tensile strength of the well-oriented PVA/MWCNTs composite fibers containing merely 0.6 wt% of MWCNTs was surprisingly more than 2.6 times that of pure PVA fiber. Structure characterization showed that well-dispersed MWCNTs were caused by the interfacial interactions between PVA matrix and MWCNTs through the bridge effect of TP.