Preceramic polymer‐derived SiOC fibers by electrospinning

Abstract

Silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) fibers with different chemical compositions were successfully fabricated by electrospinning a mixture of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and commercially available polymethylsilsesquioxane (MK) or polymethylphenylsilsesquioxane (H44) preceramic polymers, followed by cross‐linking and pyrolysis at 1000°C in Argon. The influence of the processing procedure (solvent selection, cross‐linking catalyst and additives) on the morphology of the produced fibers was investigated. For the MK/isopropanol system, the introduction of 20 vol% N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) enabled to decrease the diameter of the as‐spun fibers from 2.72 ± 0.12 μm to 1.65 ± 0.09 μm. For the H44/DMF systems, beads‐free fibers were obtained by adding 50 vol% choloroform. After pyrolysis, the resultant SiOC fibers derived from MK and H44 resins possessed uniform morphology, with an average diameter of 0.97 ± 0.07 μm and 1.07 ± 0.08 μm, respectively. Due to their different chemical compositions, the MK‐derived and H44‐derived SiOC ceramic fibers could find different potential applications. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 39836.

Facile one-pot formation of ceramic fibres from preceramic polymers by pressurised gyration

“…This feature limits the thermal breakdown of the polymeric chains into volatile oligomeric species, leading to a high ceramic residue at high temperature. Because of this, it was not possible to obtain fibres from pure silicone resin solutions, and it was necessary to add some high molecular weight linear polymer, as in the case for electrospinning of the same preceramic precursors [1,2]. Fig.…”

“…The spun fibres have to undergo two thermal treatments in order to be transformed into ceramic fibres [1]. The first one is a cross linking process, necessary to render the silicone polymer infusible to make it resistant to the next step, in which high temperatures (4 800 1C in inert atmosphere) are reached to decompose the structure of the starting polymer and obtain an amorphous Si-O-C ceramic network through a high yield pyrolysis process.…”

“…Of these, ceramic fibres have attracted much interest due to their unique morphology and superior properties [1][2][3][4]. Ceramic fibres have an important role in industry finding many applications due to their refractoriness and thermo-chemical resistance in harsh environments.…”

“…Generally, SiOC fibres are prepared by mechanical spinning of a melt or sol-gel solution [9][10][11]. Electrospinning was also recently explored to fabricate continuous SiOC fibres with different chemical compositions [1][2][3][4]. Although electrospinning is a simple and versatile technique, it requires high voltage (generally in the kV range) and in a single nozzle set-up large scale production is difficult [12,13].…”

Organosilicon polymer-derived ceramics: An overview

“…Silicon carbide oxide (SiOC), especially with porous structures has gained much attention due to its excellent oxidation resistance, high temperature stability, and thermal-mechanical durability, and has been used as catalyst supports, battery anodes, insulation materials, and gas sensors [89,[130][131][132]. Importantly, polymerderived SiOC has also been studied for biomedical applications.…”