Multifunctional membranes based on spinning technologies: the synergy of nanofibers and nanoparticles

A multicomponent membrane based on polysulfone nanofibers and titanium dioxide nanoparticles is produced by the coupling of electrospinning and electrospraying techniques. The manufactured product can satisfy a number of conflicting requirements begetting its technical and functional versatility as well as the reliability of the process. As nanoparticle dispersion is a critical issue in nanoparticle technology, their distribution and morphology have been extensively studied before and after electrospraying, and process optimization has been carried out to obtain nanoparticles uniformly spread over electrospun nanofibers. These membranes have been proved to be a good candidate for supported catalysis due to the photocatalytic activity of TiO(2), tested for degradation of CEPS, a mustard agent simulant. At the same time, an effective improvement in filtering properties in terms of pressure drop has also been studied.

[1]  D. Shaw,et al.  Introduction to colloid and surface chemistry , 1970 .

[2]  Darrell H. Reneker,et al.  Mechanical properties of composites using ultrafine electrospun fibers , 1999 .

[3]  Seeram Ramakrishna,et al.  Electrospun nanofibrous polysulfone membranes as pre-filters: Particulate removal , 2007 .

[4]  M. Doi,et al.  Theory of Agglomeration of Ferromagnetic Particles in Magnetic Fluids , 1983 .

[5]  E. Verwey,et al.  Theory of the stability of lyophobic colloids. , 1955, The Journal of physical and colloid chemistry.

[6]  Jun Kameoka,et al.  Polymeric Nanowire Chemical Sensor , 2004 .

[7]  Bin Ding,et al.  Fiber mats of poly(vinyl alcohol)/silica composite via electrospinning , 2003 .

[8]  Darrell H. Reneker,et al.  Bending instability of electrically charged liquid jets of polymer solutions in electrospinning , 2000 .

[9]  B. Frisken,et al.  Revisiting the method of cumulants for the analysis of dynamic light-scattering data. , 2001, Applied optics.

[10]  H. Erbring,et al.  Introduction to Colloid and Surface Chemistry , 1967 .

[11]  K. Matsushige,et al.  Electrospray deposition, model, and experiment: toward general control of film morphology. , 2006, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[12]  R. J. Hunter.  Foundations of Colloid Science , 1987 .

[13]  Eyal Zussman,et al.  Electrostatic field-assisted alignment of electrospun nanofibres , 2001 .

[14]  K. Kendall,et al.  Nanoparticle aggregation influenced by magnetic fields , 2006 .

[15]  Seeram Ramakrishna,et al.  Spray deposition of electrospun TiO2 nanorods for dye-sensitized solar cell , 2007 .

[16]  Y. Tsur,et al.  Surface Stabilization of Nano-sized Titanium Dioxide: Improving the Colloidal Stability and the Sintering Morphology , 2007 .

[17]  Younan Xia,et al.  Electrospinning of polymeric and ceramic nanofibers as uniaxially aligned arrays , 2003 .

[18]  S. Ramakrishna,et al.  A review on electrospinning design and nanofibre assemblies , 2006, Nanotechnology.

[19]  Miqin Zhang,et al.  Electrospun chitosan-based nanofibers and their cellular compatibility. , 2005, Biomaterials.

[20]  T. A. Hatton,et al.  Catalytic hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate by electrospun polyacrylamidoxime nanofibers , 2007 .

[21]  T. Lim,et al.  An Introduction to Electrospinning and Nanofibers , 2005 .

[22]  M. Kotaki,et al.  Surface modified nonwoven polysulphone (PSU) fiber mesh by electrospinning : a novel affinity membrane , 2006 .

[23]  Virginia Yong,et al.  Processing and properties of SiC/vinyl ester nanocomposites , 2004 .

[24]  S. Ramakrishna,et al.  Functionalized polymer nanofibre membranes for protection from chemical warfare stimulants , 2006 .

[25]  J. Lyklema.  Foundations of colloid science, vol. II: By R. J. Hunter, Oxford University Press, (Clarendon), Oxford, 1989. (Written in collaboration with D. Chen, R. O'Brien, J. Hayter, J. Ralston, and D. Atkinson) , 1991 .