Fabrication of bundled bi- component pan/pani nanofibers containing Tio2 nanoparticles

Conductive polymers are used in various fields, nowadays. Among these polymers, the electroactivepolymer polyaniline (pani) has been gained significant attention due to its suitable electrochemical, economical andenvironmental properties. In the recent years many researchers have fabricated polyaniline nanofibers and studied theelectrochemical behavior of them as an actuator or artificial muscle. In this research, we fabricated several aligned bicomponentnanofiber layers which the polyacrylonitril (pan) containing 0-15 % (W/W) Tio2 nanoparticles and 80:20 %pan-pani blend were deposited in core and shell of nanofibers, respectively. SEM images show that increase of Tio2content up to 10% enhances the average diameter of nanofibers. Also it was observed coaxial pan/pan-pani nanofibershave about 20% larger diameter than neat pan nanofibers. In nanofibers containing 15% Tio2, nanoparticles tend toagglomerate extremely. Therefore the increase of fibers diameter is not uniform and nanofibers with less diameter andmany aggregation points were observed in sample containing 15% Tio2. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopyspectra of nanofibers confirmed the presence of pan and pani in nanofiber bundles. It indicates that we produced bicomponentpan/ pan- pani blend nanofibers containing Tio2 nanoparticles, successfully.

Keywords:

conductive polymers , polyaniline , polyacrylonitril , coaxial nanofibers , Tio2 nanoparticles