Silica Composite Fibers Research Articles

Preparation and performance of hydrophobic and conductive silica composite fiber membrane

Electrospinning is an important way to prepare fibers. In this paper, hydrophobic and conductive composite fiber membranes were prepared by opposite electrospinning. The hydrophobic material was trimethylethoxysilane, the conductive material was graphene, and polyvinylpyrrolidone was introduced as the carrier material of graphene. It was found that the sol–gel time, the content of silane coupling agent and low-temperature storage of the solution have a certain influence on the hydrophobicity and spinnability of the fiber membrane. At the same time, the effect of graphene content on the spinnability and the electrical conductivity of composite fiber membrane were studied. The results showed that the composite fiber membrane has good hydrophobic properties and electrical conductivity. The water contact angle of the fiber membrane reaches 139.6°, and the conductivity reaches 1972.78 S cm−1.

Characterization and mechanical properties of polyacrylonitrile/silica composite fibers prepared via dry-jet wet spinning process

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/silica composite fibers were fabricated by dry-jet wet spinning process. PAN/silica composite fibers were characterized with SEM and FTIR. The former revealed that beads were formed and aggregated when silica content was more than 1 wt.%, while the latter confirmed the presence and increment of silica content. The tensile test was performed to obtain the mechanical properties of PAN/silica composite fibers, which showed an optimum Young's modulus at 5.94 GPa and tensile strength at 1.07 MPa at 1 wt.% silica. Therefore, the addition of silica particle at 1 wt.% has enhanced the mechanical properties of PAN/silica composite fibers.

Preparation of dendritic and network PANI/silica composite fibers

Dendritic and network PANI fibers with controlled diameters from nanosize to sub-micrometer-size were prepared at room temperature. Conducting polyaniline (PANI)/silica composite fibers were synthesized via a sol–gel progress thereafter. Structural characterization was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). FT-IR and UV–vis were used to verify the incorporation of the silica.