Polystyrene Fibers Research Articles

A study on the effect of the collector properties on the fabrication of magnetic polystyrene nanocomposite fibers using the electrospinning technique

AbstractThe role of the collector properties in changing the fiber morphology in electrospinning has not been completely understood yet. In this work, we studied the effect of different collectors on the helicity of the magnetic polystyrene nanocomposite fibers containing superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles. Aluminum and ice were used as solid collectors. Ethanol, ethanol‐deionized (DI) water mixture, sodium dodecyl sulfate, Triton X‐100, deionized water, and NaCl baths were used as liquid collectors. Ice, when surrounded by a conductive foil, produced excellent fiber alignment, but increased local humidity, inhibiting the continuous jet formation. The deionized water and NaCl bath exhibited minimum helicity. The surfactant bath produced different structures such as coiled, helical, and zig‐zag with varied diameters. Ethanol and DI/Ethanol baths were found to retain the structure of the deformed fiber formed due to jet instability. The helicity of the fibers was observed to increase with decreasing surface tension. Incorporation of the magnetic phase affected the viscosity of the polymer solution and the hydrophobicity of the polystyrene fibers further influencing the obtained morphologies.

Robust Smart Fabrics Composed of MgO Nanostructures Encapsulated in Hollow Polystyrene Fibers for Efficient Thermoregulation

Robust Smart Fabrics Composed of MgO Nanostructures Encapsulated in Hollow Polystyrene Fibers for Efficient Thermoregulation

The Formation Mechanism of Electrospun Beaded Fibers: Experiment and Simulation Study

This research examined the influence of solution concentration on Taylor cone morphology, jet behavior, fiber surface morphology, and the impact of spinning voltage on the microbead shape of the beaded fiber. The straight jet length, envelope cone, whipping frequency of the electrospun jet, and Taylor cone morphology were studied using the images captured by a high-speed photography camera. According to the findings, higher solution concentrations result in longer straight jet lengths, smaller envelope cones, and lower whipping frequencies. Scanning electron microscopy was used to ascertain the diameter and surface morphology of polystyrene fibers, revealing that fibers spun with higher solution concentrations had larger diameters. In contrast, low concentration solutions receive more electric field forces due to higher conductivity. The jet tends to break, and fibers with the beads-on-a-string morphology form. Furthermore, the influence of voltage on microbead shape has been further examined using the simulation software COMSOL. As the spinning voltage increases, the jet’s stretching impact is more prominent, and the bead shape gradually changes from nearly circular to spindle-shaped.

Pd/C embedded crosslinked polystyrene fibers as an efficient catalyst for Heck reactions

AbstractPd/C embedded polystyrene fibers were successfully prepared by electrospinning. The polystyrene molecules were then cross‐linked by paraformaldehyde in sulfuric acid to improve the solvent resistance of composite fibers. SEM images conformed the preparation of uniform and smooth composite fibers. FT‐IR spectra demonstrated that the polystyrene molecules inside fibers have been sulphonated and crosslinked. Heck reactions were used to evaluate the catalytic performance of these novel composite fibers. The catalysis results show that this composite fiber mat catalyzed Heck reactions could be evidently promoted by using preferred reducing alcohol agent and solvent. Under the optimized reaction conditions, this composite fiber mat could effectively catalyze the Heck reactions of aromatic iodides with n‐butyl acrylate to afford the products with satisfied yields. Especially, compared with the particulate Pd/C catalyst, the separation and recycling of this fibrous catalyst from the reaction mixture were significantly improved due to the larger fibrous structure. At last, this fiber catalyst was successfully reused for eight times with little loss of initial catalytic activity, which was even better than the pristine Pd/C catalyst. Hence, embedment of particulate supported metal catalysts inside the crosslinked polystyrene fibers can effectively improve their catalytic performance and handiness.

Polypyrrole-coated electrospun polystyrene-Fe (III) composite fibres

Polypyrrole (Ppy) was synthesized via a chemical oxidization method with FeCl3.6H2O (FCHH) on electrospun polystyrene fibres ESPSF. The spinning process was achieved using Electrospinning for three solutions of polystyrene PS including 3, 5, and 9 % wt/v of FCHH in dimethyl formamide (DMF). The fibres diameters were monitored by scanning electron microscope SEM before and after coating, and it was found that the best results were achieved at low concentrations of FCHH. The Ppy coating was applied under four exposure periods (90, 150, 200, and 270 minutes) at 22C; Fibre diameter and coating quality are directly related in the study. The technique suggests a potential route towards producing conducting fibres with micro/nanoscale dimensions using Electrospinning followed by vapor chemical polymerization of pyrrole.

Fly Ash-Incorporated Polystyrene Nanofiber Membrane as a Fire-Retardant Material: Valorization of Discarded Materials.

Reusing or recycling waste into new useful materials is essential for environmental protection. Herein, we used discarded polystyrene (PS) and fly-ash (FA) particles and a fabricated fly-ash incorporated polystyrene fiber (FA/PS fiber) composite. The electrospinning process produced continuous PS fibers with a good distribution of FA particles. The prepared nanofibers were characterized by state-of-the-art techniques. The performances of the composite nanofibers were tested for fire-retardant applications. We observed that the incorporation of FA particles into the PS fibers led to an improvement in the performance of the composite as compared to the pristine PS fibers. This study showed an important strategy in using waste materials to produce functional nanofibers through an economical procedure. We believe that the strategy presented in this paper can be extended to other waste materials for obtaining nanofiber membranes for various environmental applications.

Plastic Waste Recycling: Preparation of Sulfonated Polystyrene Fibers and Cu2+ Adsorption Capacity

Plastic Waste Recycling: Preparation of Sulfonated Polystyrene Fibers and Cu²⁺ Adsorption Capacity

Examining the hydrophobic properties of electrospun oxide-induced polystyrene nanofibers for application in oil-water separation

Nanofibers have great importance in the membrane technology used in hydrophobic surface filtration studies applied to water-oil separation products. This study improves upon the hydrophobic properties of electrospun polystyrene-based nanofibers by increasing surface contact angles. As a result, nanofibers have been produced by adding ZnO, MoO3, NiO, SiO2, and TiO2 additives to the polystyrene (PS)/dimethylformamide (DMF) polymer solution at 5% of the mass. Surface contact angle (CA), fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the nanofibers were taken. The obtained results were evaluated and show the fiber diameter to range from 555 to 1553 nm. The addition process was observed to be able to affect the polystyrene fiber’s ability to retain water. Moreover, surface contact angle of polystyrene increased to 143° by TiO2 addition. Furthermore, the highest oil-carrying capacity is concluded to have been observed on the SiO2 and MoO3 doped fibers.

The modification of optical behavior of polystyrene microfibers by the incorporation of Gd doped ZnO nanoparticles

The paper reports the synthesis of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nano particles in pure and Gadolinium (Gd) doped forms via hydrothermal method. The annealing temperatures for the samples were fixed at 600 °C and 800 °C. The ZnO nano particles in their pure and Gd doped forms were incorporated in the Polystyrene matrix and drawn to microfibers by the method of electrospinning (ES). The structural studies were carried out using Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive x-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), x-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The optical absorption and emission properties were studied using UV-Visible Absorption spectroscopy and Fluorescence Spectroscopy. The SEM-EDS confirmed the presence of Gd in ZnO. In the ZnO structures more crystallinity was observed for samples annealed at 800 °C. The particle size of the prepared nano particles were found to vary from 77 nm to 194 nm. The optical absorption behavior of the samples was explained using Brus effective mass model. The fluorescence emission spectrum of the nano particle samples were analyzed and found that the emission properties depend on their particle size. The XRD, UV-Visible and Fluorescence analysis of fibers confirmed the presence of ZnO and Gd doped ZnO nano particles in the polystyrene fibers. The distinct optical absorption and emission behavior of the microfibers were greatly affected due to the presence of nano particles in the polymer matrix.

(Digital Presentation) Power-Generation and Mass-Transport Characteristics of Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell Using Pore-Designed Anode Electrode

Controlling of mass transport in the anode catalyst layer has become one of the major challenges in Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cells (DFAFCs) owing to the poor formic acid transport and crossover. This study is aim to introduce the microfiber-pores designed anode catalyst layers by mean to improve the mass transport limitation and eventually improving the performance of DFAFCs. Polystyrene fibers (PSFs) were fabricated with different diameter by electrospinning prior to control their length by ultrasonic homogenization. Different amount of PSF as a pore forming agent were then added to the catalyst ink before catalyst coated membrane (CCM) were made by spraying the catalyst ink on the membrane. The CCM were then soaked in ethyl acetate solution to remove the PSF in order to improve the porous structure of anode catalyst layer. Different diameter and amount of PSFs exhibited different pore properties of the catalyst layer and its effect on the mass transport and the performance of DFAFC were then investigated. From the results, the microfiber-pores designed anode catalyst layers showed better performance remarkably at the higher current density region as compared to the conventional anode catalyst layer. Moreover, it was also found that there were optimum diameter and amount of PSF used for the highest performance of DFAFC. This could be attributed to the existence of the microfiber-pores have provide larger active catalyst region which accelerate the fuel transport and the CO2 emission in anode catalyst layer. Thus, these results indicate that the introduction of the microfiber-pores on the anode catalyst layer is a promising approach in order to improve the mass transport resistance, leading to enhance the DFAFCs performance.

Comparison of fitness effects in the earthworm Eisenia fetida after exposure to single or multiple anthropogenic pollutants

Terrestrial ecosystems are exposed to many anthropogenic pollutants. Non-target effects of pesticides and fertilizers have put agricultural intensification in the focus as a driver for biodiversity loss. However, other pollutants, such as heavy metals, particulate matter, or microplastic also enter the environment, e.g. via traffic and industrial activities in urban areas. As soil acts as a potential sink for such pollutants, soil invertebrates like earthworms may be particularly affected by them. Under natural conditions soil invertebrates will likely be exposed to combinations of pollutants simultaneously, which may result in stronger negative effects if pollutants act synergistically.Within this work we study how multiple pollutants affect the soil-dwelling, substrate feeding earthworm Eisenia fetida. We compared the effects of the single stressors, polystyrene microplastic fragments, polystyrene fibers, brake dust and carbon black, with the combined effect of these pollutants when applied as a mixture. Endpoints measured were survival, increase in body weight, reproductive fitness, and changes in three oxidative stress markers (glutathione S-transferase, catalase and malondialdehyde). We found that among single pollutant treatments, brake dust imposed the strongest negative effects on earthworms in all measured endpoints including increased mortality rates. Sub-lethal effects were found for all pollutants. Exposing earthworms to all four pollutants simultaneously led to effects on mortality and oxidative stress markers that were smaller than expected by the respective null models. These antagonistic effects are likely a result of the adsorption of toxic substances found in brake dust to the other pollutants. With this study we show that effects of combinations of pollutants cannot necessarily be predicted from their individual effects and that combined effects will likely depend on identity and concentration of the pollutants.

Evaluation of the adsorption efficiency of carcinogenic PAHs on microplastic (polyester) fibers—preliminary results

Paper presents the results of investigations on sorption capacity of selected carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on microplastics fibers. Accumulation of organic micropollutants such as PAHs is indicated as one of the important problems in the case of microplastics present in surface water, including sea water. Concentrations of the micropollutants can reach even several mg/kg of microplastics. An unrecognized problem are sorption capacities of microfibers towards PAHs. Recent research works indicate that microfibers are commonly present in sewage sludge. Content of the fibers in this waste material can reach over 23000 particles per 1 kg of sludge dry matter. The fibers mainly come from cloth washing. It is obvious that the adsorption capacity of the fibers can affect the concentration of PAHs in sewage sludge. The aim of the study was to evaluate sorption capacities of polyester fibers towards PAHs. Adsorption of PAHs were provided under static conditions. After 24 h of adsorption 1255 μg/g of carcinogenic PAHs was adsorbed onto the polyster fibers. Amount of 6-ring PAHs was equal to 154 μg/g, whereas 5- i 4- ring ones, 562 and 539 μg/g, respectively. The results have confirmed that hydrophobic PAHs can be adsorbed onto polystyrene fibers and as a result cumulate in sewage sludge.

Functional Mesostructured Electrospun Polymer Nonwovens with Supramolecular Nanofibers.

Functional, hierarchically mesostructured nonwovens are of fundamental importance because complex fiber morphologies increase the active surface area and functionality allowing for the effective immobilization of metal nanoparticles. Such complex functional fiber morphologies clearly widen the property profile and enable the preparation of more efficient and selective filter media. Here, the realization of hierarchically mesostructured nonwovens with barbed wire-like morphology is demonstrated by combining electrospun polystyrene fibers, decorated with patchy worm-like micelles, with solution-processed supramolecular short fibers composed of 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamides with peripheral N,N-diisopropylaminoethyl substituents. The worm-like micelles with a patchy microphase-separated corona are prepared by crystallization-driven self-assembly of a polyethylene based triblock terpolymer and deposited on top of the polystyrene fibers by coaxial electrospinning. The micelles are designed in a way that their patches promote the directed self-assembly of the 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamide and the fixation of the supramolecular nanofibers on the supporting polystyrene fibers. Functionality of the mesostructured nonwoven is provided by the peripheral N,N-diisopropylaminoethyl substituents of the 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamide and proven by the effective immobilization of individual palladium nanoparticles on the supramolecular nanofibers. The preparation of hierarchically mesostructured nonwovens and their shown functionality demonstrate that such systems are attractive candidates to be used for example in filtration, selective separation and heterogenous catalysis.

Negatively charged hollow crosslinked aromatic polymer fiber membrane for high-efficiency removal of cationic dyes in wastewater

• Negatively charged hollow crosslinked polymer fiber membranes were fabricated. • The membrane exhibited high adsorption capacity and rate for cationic dyes. • The membrane indicated high flux of 530 L·m −2 ·h −1 without external driven pressure. • The rejection ratio of 100% and 20 L pure water per gram of membrane were achieved. • The membrane showed absolute superiority to the reported carboxylated cellulose fabrics membrane. The complete, high-efficiency removal of cationic dyes in industrial wastewater before discharge becomes particularly urgent due to their biological toxicity. The membranes have emerged for removal of dyes benefiting from free separation, cheap component and easy operation, and thus aroused increasing research interest. Herein, the negatively charged hollow crosslinked aromatic polystyrene (PS) fiber (HPF-C) membrane has been successfully synthesized by a rapid room-temperature crosslinking of linear PS in HPF membrane, followed by deep sulfonation. The sulfonated HPF-C (HPF-C-S) membrane showed high experimental equilibrium adsorption capacity of 443.6 mg·g −1 for basic red 46 (BR46) with initial concentration of 50 mg·L -1 . Its maximum adsorption capacity (346.0 mg·g −1 ) of methylene blue (MB) calculated by Langmuir model was about 5 times that of carboxylated cellulose fabrics (CCFs) membrane and higher than that of the most reported or commercially available nanofiber/nanoparticle adsorbents. Without external driven pressure, a flow rate of cationic dye solution through HPF-C-S membrane was up to 530 L·m −2 ·h −1 which was about 90 times that (6 L·m −2 ·h −1 ) of the CCFs membrane. The solution concentration through the HPF-C-S membrane always remained 0 mg L -1 (lower than the LODs of UV) before the permeation volume reached 4000 mL for 2 mg L -1 BR46 solution (In other words, 20 L of clean water could be obtained through per gram of membrane) and 1500 mL for 2 mg L -1 MB solution, respectively. The rejection ratio of 100% fully met the environmental criterion for wastewater disposal, indicating absolute superiority to the reported CCFs membrane that could not completely purify dyes. Moreover, the HPF-C-S membranes indicated excellent sustainability and stability. Besides, the kinetics, thermodynamics and mechanism behind these phenomena were studied.

The Effect of Orientation Degree of Electrospun Polystyrene Fiber on Filtration Performance of Fiber Membrane

In this study, ultrafine polystyrene fiber membranes with different fiber orientation degrees were prepared by and electrospinning method, and two methods were used to characterize the fiber orientation degree. In addition, the effects of fiber orientation degree on the surface wettability and smoke filtration performance of fiber membrane were studied. The results showed that the water repellency and smoke absorption capacity of the polystyrene fiber membrane decrease with the increasing fiber orientation degree and the porosity. The orientation degree of the fiber has a significant influence on the smoke filtration performance of fiber membrane.

Morphology, Chemical Characterization and Sources of Microplastics in a Coastal City in the Equatorial Zone with Diverse Anthropogenic Activities (Fortaleza city, Brazil)

The aim of the present study was to perform morphological and chemical characterizations of microplastics (MPs) found in seawater samples from the coast of the city of Fortaleza (CE) using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Sampling was performed using a neuston sampler. MPs were separated based on the difference in density. MPs with varied morphologies were found. Fibers and fragments were the most abundant (57% and 36.2%, respectively). FTIR, Raman spectroscopy and DSC confirmed the presence of polyurethane and alkyd resin, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyamide blends, thermoplastic rubber and polyester fibers. The main sources of MPs and their relative contribution were fishing activities, food packaging and household products with 55.1%, household laundry with 27.2%, wear of surface coatings with 10.0% and wear of automobile tires with 7.6%. As a result, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyamide are believed to enter the marine environment mainly through fishing activities and debris from food packaging, polyester mainly through domestic sewage contaminated by washing clothes fibers, polyurethane and alkyd resin from the abrasive wear of surface coatings, as well as rubber particles from the wear of the automobile tires. Thus, one may infer that the main sources of MPs in the marine environment on the coast of Fortaleza are anthropogenic activities. Additionally, there is less information on blends and weathered MPs in commercial polymer databases. Therefore, the MP spectra obtained in this study can serve as a database to compare and characterize these more complex MPs.

Extensibility-Enriched Spinnability and Enhanced Sorption and Strength of Centrifugally Spun Polystyrene Fiber Mats

We show that incorporating ultrahigh molecular weight (UHMw) polymer fractions into spinning dopes improves their spinnability and facilitates the centrifugal force spinning (CFS) of polystyrene (PS) fiber mats with enhanced mechanical and sorption properties. For matched polymer concentration, c, and solvent type, the UHMw additive at a low weight fraction (<0.1) only weakly influences shear viscosity. We attribute the enhanced spinnability and fiber properties to change in extensibility (stretched to equilibrium coil size ratio), quantified using the extensibility-averaged molecular weight, ML, that accounts for the role of stretched chain hydrodynamics and extensional rheology response. Although many studies argue that spinnable solutions lie above the entanglement concentration on the c–Mw plots, we show that the UHMw additives facilitate fiber formation below the computed entanglement concentration for extensibility-enriched (EE) polymer solutions. We highlight the role of extensibility and dispersity by locating the minimum spinnable concentration, cspin, and the concentration, cBC, for the transition from beaded to continuous fiber formation on a c–ML plot. We show that extensibility-enriched solutions display cspin ∝ ML–b with b = 1 + ν and cBC ∝ ML–b with b = 3ν – 1 due to significant strain hardening and large Trouton ratios that delay pinch-off. Additionally, we posit that in low-extensibility solutions, including low Mw or lower flexibility polymers, spinnability benefits from the steep viscosity increase on the solvent loss for volatile entangled (VE) polymer solutions, requiring cspin ∝ ce ∝ MW–b with b = 1 + ν, explaining why entanglements promote fiber formation.

Fabrication of a three-dimensional (3D) SERS fiber probe and application of in situ detection.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) fiber probes are useful for remote and online detection of harmful molecules using the SERS effect. In this study, a 3-dimensional (3D) SERS optical fiber probe is proposed. The formation of the 3D optical fiber probe mainly included three steps: construction of monolayer polystyrene (PS) spheres as a mask on the end face of the fiber, reactive ion etching (RIE) for PS spheres and fibers, and metal sputtering deposition. Compared with flat surface fiber probes, these 3D SERS fiber probes are composed of ordered nanocolumn arrays, which have the advantages of a simple manufacturing process, low cost, high sensitivity, and good stability. The structures of the 3D SERS fiber probe can be well controlled by changing the size of the PS sphere and etching time. The formation of the nanocolumn was studied using time evolution experiments. The obtained fiber SERS probe has good stability and high sensitivity for the in situ detection of 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) in solution. Therefore, these 3D SERS fiber probes have potential applications in harmful molecules for real-time detection.

Conceptual design of interlocking block utilizing lightweight expanded polystyrene concrete reinforced with kenaf fiber

Concrete is the most used material in the construction industry in modern times, the concrete technology has also been well developed over the years. Carbon emissions from the built environment and its construction has been reported amounting to 38% of the total global emissions. Furthermore, waste management is a struggling issue. This study utilises the recycled expanded polystyrene and kenaf fiber, an agricultural by-product, incorporated into the concrete matrix. Compressive, split tensile and flexural strength has been done on the composite concrete and has shown good results by surpassing the target of 5.2 MN/m2, set according to the Malaysian Standard, MS 76:1972. The interlocking block is a possible application in the construction industry for cost effectiveness.

Tuneable optical gain and broadband lasing driven in electrospun polymer fibers by high dye concentration

Electrospun polystyrene fibers doped with a blue emitting dye across a broad range of concentration show high and tunable optical gain, reaching broadband lasing action by disordered network configurations.