Fundamental study of crystallization, orientation, and electrical conductivity of electrospun PET/carbon nanotube nanofibers

Abstract

The morphology, structure, and properties of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) conductive nanoweb were studied in this article. Nanocomposite nanofibers were obtained through electrospinning of PET solutions in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA)/dichloromethane (DCM) containing different concentrations and types of CNTs. Electrical conductivity measurements on nanofiber mats showed an electrical percolation threshold around 2 wt % multi‐wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). The morphological analysis results showed smoother nanofibers with less bead structures development when using a rotating drum collector especially at high concentrations of CNTs. From crystallographic measurements, a higher degree of crystallinity was observed with increasing CNT concentrations above electrical percolation. Spectroscopy results showed that both PET and CNT orientation increased with the level of alignment of the nanofibers when the nanotube concentration was below the electrical percolation threshold; while the orientation factor was reduced for aligned nanofibers with higher content in CNT. Considerable enhancement in mechanical properties, especially tensile modulus, was found in aligned nanofibers; at least six times higher than the modulus of random nanofibers at concentrations below percolation. The effect of alignment on the mechanical properties was less important at higher concentrations of CNTs, above the percolation threshold. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 2052–2064, 2010

Poly(ethylene terephthalate)/carbon black composite fibers prepared by electrospinning

“…is the enthalpy of fusion of perfect crystalline structure of PET at equilibrium thermodynamic melt temperature 0 m T and was taken as 140 J/g [14] .…”

“…Adding rigid fillers to prepare composite fibers with improved mechanical properties is certainly beneficial for their applications. PET/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composite fibers have been prepared by electrospinning [14,15] . Mazinani et al [14] reported an electrical percolation threshold around 2 wt% MWCNT and significant improvement in mechanical properties through adding MWCNT for random PET fiber mats.…”

“…PET/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composite fibers have been prepared by electrospinning [14,15] . Mazinani et al [14] reported an electrical percolation threshold around 2 wt% MWCNT and significant improvement in mechanical properties through adding MWCNT for random PET fiber mats. Compared to the MWCNT, CB is much cheaper and widely used, but to the best of our knowledge, the research on PET/CB electrospun fibers is still lacking.…”

Advanced microgel-functionalized polyester textiles adaptive to ambient conditions

“…Furthermore, the attention for functionalization has shifted in the recent years towards localized modifications, such as photo-grafting or immobilization of functional groups and polymers on specific reactive sites of the substrate (Ito et al 2007;Vladkova 2010). Another approach reported for polyester fiber functionalization involves electro-spinning in the presence of nano-particles and carbon nano-tubes (Chen et al 2009;Mazinani et al 2010;Xing et al 2011).…”

“…Main objectives of the above forms of polyester functionalization include enhancement of its hydrophilicity (Gouveia et al 2011;Sawada et al 2003), wettability (Bessada et al 2011;Huang et al 2009), dyeability (Hossain et al 2009;Kamel et al 2011), electrical conductivity (Jin et al 2006;Mazinani et al 2010), biodegradability (Xing et al 2011), and addition of new functionalities for e.g. substance entrapment and/or controlled release (Boyd et al 1993;Drobota et al 2010;Kaetsu et al 1999).…”