Nylon electrospinning

K. H. Hong and T. J. Kang, Polyaniline-nylon-6 composite nanowues prepared by emulsion polymerization and electrospinning process, J. Appl. Polymer Sci., 99,1277-1286 (2006). 

Nanocable chemosensors have been formed in which an inner core fiber filament is further modified by polymerization of the conducting polymer on its surface. This was first described for sensing by Zhang et al. in which a carbon fiber was used as the template for the electrochemical polymerization of a thin film of PANI [27]. The resulting nanoelectrode sensor was used to detect changes in pH resulting from the level of protonation in the polymer backbone. PPy nanofibers have been formed by the electrospinning of nylon fibers. 

Brunauer-Emmett-Teller Electrospinning Electrospun polylacticacid Nanofiber mats Nylon 6... 

Electrospinning is applicable to a wide range of polymers like those used in conventional spinning, that is, polyolefine, polyamides, polyester, aramide, and acrylic, as well as biopolymers like proteins, DNA, and polypeptides, or others like electrically conducting, photonic and other polymers such as poly(ethylene oxide] (PEO], DNA, poly(acrylic acid] (PAA], polyQactic acid] (PEA], and also collagen, organics such as nylon, polyester, and acryl resin, and poly(vinyl alcohol] (PVA], polystyrene (PS], polyacrylonitrile (PAN], peptide, cellulose, etc. 

A conductive composite fibers based on MWCNTs and nylon-6,6 by electrospinning was also prepared by stable dispersions of MWCNTs functionalized with -NH2 terminations in formic acid. 

PANl nanoparticles were doped with DBSA and electrospun with nylon-6 by Hong et al. Conductivities of different forms were compared. The electrical conductivity of PANl (DBSA) particle pellets was about 4.27 x 10 S/cm, the conductivity of the PANl (DBSA)-nylon-6 film was about 1.68 x 10 S/cm, and the conductivity of the PANl (DBSA)-nylon 6 electrospun fiber web was about 6.19 x 10" S/ cm. It was concluded that when the PANl (DBSA-nylon 6) composite solution was electrospun by electric power, the overall crystallinity of the composite polymer decreased so the conductivity decreased. This was explained with the rapid evaporation of the solvent during the electrospinning process. 

Biyikli, N., and Uyar, T. (2012) Polymer-inorganic core-shell nanofibers by electrospinning and atomic layer deposition flexible nylon-ZnO core-shell nanofiber mats and their photocatalytic activity. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 4, 6185-6194. 

Chang [99] produced polyimide (PI) fibers (obtained after thermal imidization of poly(amic acid) electrospun fibers) covered by rods of ZnO. First, the authors coated the PI nanofibers with ZnO NPs by immersion of the mat in an ethanol solution of zinc acetate and by performing a subsequent thermal treatment. These ZnO NPs acted as seeds for the growth of ZnO rods synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis, which occurred at 90°C in a mixture of zinc nitrate hexahydrate and hexamethylenetetramine. In order to improve the attachment of ZnO rods to the fiber surfaces, Kim et al. [100] incorporated the ZnO NPs seeds in the fiber by electrospinning a colloidal solution of polymer (nylon-6) and ZnO NPs. 

Vitchuli N, Shi Q, Nowak J, Kay K, Caldwell JM, Breidt F, Bourham M, McCord M, Zhang X (2011) Multifunctional ZnO/Nylon-6 nanofiber mats by an electrospinning-electrospraying hybrid process for use in protective applications. Sci Technol Adv Mater 12 055004... 

Jeong J S, Jeon S Y, Lee T Y, Park J H, Shin J H, Alegaonkar P S, Berdisnky A S and Yoo J B (2006) Fabrication of MWNTs/nylon conductive composite nanofibers by electrospinning, Diamond Relat Mater 15 1839-1843. 

Vaisman L, Wachtel E, Wagner H D and Marom G (2007) Polymer-nanoinclusion interactions in carbon nanotube based polyacrylonitrile extruded and electrospun fibers, Po/ /mer 48 6843-6854. Li Y, Huang Z and Lu Y (2006) Electrospinning of nylon-6,66,1010 terpolymer, Eur Polym J 42 1696-1704. 

Zhang S., Shim W.S., Kim J. Design of ultra-fine nonwovens via electrospinning of Nylon 6 Spinning parameters and filtration efficiency. Materials and Design, 30,3659-3666... 

Figure 13.2 Picture of a homogeneous nylon-6 nanofibrous membranes still enclosed in the copper disk collector, just prepared by electrospinning. Note the disk collector over-coated by the fibers...

These considerations encouraged water-soluble polymers such as PEO to be popularly studied in early research on electrospinning. Only limited work on electrospinning of polymers such as polyamides was reported in the early literature because of the requirement for expensive and/or hazardous solvents (e.g., formic acid for nylon-6,6). 

Stephens, J. S., D. B. Chase, and J. F. Rabolt (2004). Effect of the electrospinning process on polymer crystallization chain conformation in nylon-6 and nylon-12. ... 

Indeed, by some polymer solutions, electrospinning can produce fibers that are astonishingly thin. Nylon is the classic example of successfully electrospun polymer, allowing fibers or filament segments with diameter down to the scale of 1 nm to be realized, which corresponds to six or seven macromolecules arranged across the filament cross-section. ... 

DuPont has announced that they will produce hthium-ion battery separators using their Hybrid Membrane Technology (HMT), which is based on a nontraditional electrospinning process. Currently a nano-fiber mat is available based on nylon. Products for lithium-ion batteries are yet to be aimounced. 

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