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. 2018 Dec 29;9(1):39.
doi: 10.3390/nano9010039.

Efficient Synthesis of PVDF/PI Side-by-Side Bicomponent Nanofiber Membrane with Enhanced Mechanical Strength and Good Thermal Stability

Ming Cai  1 , Hongwei He  2 , Xiao Zhang  3 , Xu Yan  4 , Jianxin Li  5 , Fuxing Chen  6 , Ding Yuan  7 , Xin Ning  8
Affiliations

Efficient Synthesis of PVDF/PI Side-by-Side Bicomponent Nanofiber Membrane with Enhanced Mechanical Strength and Good Thermal Stability

Ming Cai et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

Bicomponent composite fibers, due to their unique versatility, have attracted great attention in many fields, such as filtration, energy, and bioengineering. Herein, we efficiently fabricated polyvinylidene fluoride/polyimide (PVDF/PI) side-by-side bicomponent nanofibers based on electrospinning, which resulted in the synergism between PVDF and PI, and eventually obtained the effect of 1 + 1 > 2. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterize the morphology and chemical structure of nanofibers, indicating that a large number of side-by-side nanofibers were successfully prepared. Further, the thermal stability, mechanical strength, and filtration properties of PVDF/PI were carefully investigated. The results revealed that the bicomponent nanofibers possessed both good mechanical strength and remarkable thermal stability. Moreover, the mechanical properties of PVDF/ PI were strengthened by more than twice after the heat treatment (7.28 MPa at 25 °C, 15.49 MPa at 230 °C). Simultaneously, after the heat treatment at 230 °C for 30 min, the filtration efficiency of PVDF/PI membrane was maintained at about 95.45 ± 1.09%, and the pressure drop was relatively low. Therefore, the prepared PVDF/PI side-by-side bicomponent nanofibers have a favorable prospect of application in the field of medium- and high-temperature filtration, which further expands the application range of electrospun fiber membranes.

Keywords: PVDF/PI; bicomponent electrospinning; nanofiber; side-by-side.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; and in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic diagram of side-by-side bicomponent electrospinning equipment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
SEM images of PVDF (a), PI (b), and PVDF/PI (c) nanofibers; Fibers diameter distribution images of PVDF (d), PI (e) and PVDF/PI (f).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The FTIR spectra of PVDF (a), PI (b), and PVDF/PI (c) nanofibers.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Photograph (a,b) and SEM images of PVDF (c,d), PI (e,f), and PVDF/PI (g,h) electrospun membranes before and after heat treatment.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The stress–strain curves of PVDF (a), PI (b), and PVDF/PI (c) electrospun membranes before and after the heat treatment; Fibers heat treatment diagram (d).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Filtration efficiency (a), pressure drop (b), quality factor (QF) (c), and air permeability (d) of PVDF, PI single-component fiber membrane and PVDF/PI bicomponent fiber membrane at 25 °C, 140 °C and 230 °C, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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