Multifunctional polyacrylonitrile‐ZnO/Ag electrospun nanofiber membranes with various ZnO morphologies for photocatalytic, UV‐shielding, and antibacterial applications

Abstract

New multifunctional polyacrylonitrile (PAN)‐ZnO/Ag composite electrospun nanofiber membranes consisting of pineal‐type, flower‐type, and sea‐urchin‐type ZnO morphologies were prepared using a single‐capillary electrospinning technique, hydrothermal ZnO synthesis, and Ag reduction. The various ZnO architectures exhibited differences in photocatalytic activity and UV‐shielding efficiency, and were ranked as follows: sea‐urchin type > flower type > pineal type. Sea‐urchin‐type ZnO features a higher surface‐to‐volume ratio than other ZnO architectures do because of its distinctive structure, thus yielding higher performance. The present study demonstrated that self‐standing PAN‐ZnO/Ag composite fiber membranes, especially those with the sea‐urchin‐type ZnO structure, can be applied in multifunctional textiles such as water purification filters and antibacterial and UV‐shielding clothes. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015, 53, 262–269

Pyrene or rhodamine derivative–modified surfaces of electrospun nanofibrous chemosensors for colorimetric and fluorescent determination of Cu 2+ , Hg 2+ , and pH

“…Electrospinning is a simple, versatile, and inexpensive technique for assembling various functional nanofibers [21][22][23][24][25][26]. The high surface-to-volume ratio of ES nanofibers has motivated extensive studies on sensory applications [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34].…”

Copolymers of acrylonitrile with quaternizable thiazole and triazole side-chain methacrylates as potent antimicrobial and hemocompatible systems

“…Then, the penetration of the cationic part into the cell wall and the destructive interaction with the cytoplasmic membrane, lead to the leakage of intracellular components and, consequently, to the cell death [6][7][8]. http Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is one of the polymeric materials widely used in industry due to its well-known properties as resistant to most solvents and chemicals, slow to burn, low permeability to gases and so forth [9][10][11][12][13]. In the last years, PAN copolymers have evolved a large variety of products based on blends, ultrathin membranes, precursors of carbon fibers, and nanofibers by electrospinning [14][15][16].…”

“…In the last years, PAN copolymers have evolved a large variety of products based on blends, ultrathin membranes, precursors of carbon fibers, and nanofibers by electrospinning [14][15][16]. Due to its importance in textile, water treatment or medicinal industries, many strategies are found to develop antimicrobial PAN materials in the latest years [9,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. For instance, recent research has focused on antimicrobial PAN nanofibers by adding silver nanoparticles [22,25,26], blends with other bioactive polymers [20,21,27], composites [19,23,28,29], chemical modification [30] or even adding antibiotics [18,22,25,31].…”

Fabrication of lightweight and flexible cellulose acetate composite nanofibers for high‐performance ultra violet protective materials

“…To overcome these matters, electrospun nanofibers with nonwoven structures are proposed to be a promising alternative due to their high surface area, lightweight, high porosity, superior mechanical properties, good flexibility, and suitability to prepare on large scale . Several studies have been carried out to understand the UV protection properties of the electrospun nanofibers embedded with various metal oxide nanoparticles such as magnesium oxide (MgO) , aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) , cerium dioxide (CeO 2 ) , titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) , zinc oxide (ZnO) , and so on. Among them, ZnO nanoparticles are of great attention because of their excellent thermal conductivity, high refractive indices, wide band gap (3.37 eV), and good stability at high temperatures treatment .…”