Synthesis and characterizations of polyvinyl alcohol-graphite electrospun nanofibers

Polymer nanofibers have attracted much industrial interest over the past decade. In general, these fibers are suitable for a variety of applications including medical applications, insulation, capacitors, advanced aerospace technologies, and so on. Specifically in aerospace technology, the used materials must be thermally stable with suitable electrical conductivity. However, many of these polymer nanofibers suffer from low temperature degradation and low electrical conductivity, limiting their use in many potential applications. Graphite has unique properties such as high conductivity and high thermal stability. This exceptional material can be included as a nanoparticle in polymer nanofibers to modify electrical and thermal properties.The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of addition of graphite nanoparticle on thermal and electrical propertiesof polymer fibers.

For this purpose, polyvinyl alcohol 72000 (PVA) as a non-conductive polymer and graphite nanoparticles were used. Polyvinyl alcohol-graphite nanofibers were synthesized method by electrospinning technique under optimized parameters. The optimum conditions for the electrospinning process were: PVA concentration of 8%, applied voltage of 22 Kv, flow rate of 10 ml and tip/collector distance of 20 cm.

 Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies showed that produced PVA fibers were smooth, continuous without any bead, with a diameter of about 350 nm. The PVA / graphite nanofibers were also smooth but much thinner (about 200 nm) than PVA fibers at the same processing parameters. Moreover, X-ray patterns of PVA/graphite nanofibers include peaks of graphite particles in the structure and slso the suppression of crystallinity.  According to the results of 4 point probe teste, by increasing weight percentage of graphite in the fibers, electrical conductivity increased up to 0.5 . The thermal behavior of PVA nanofibers after mixing with graphite was also investigated by differential calorimetry analysis (DSC) and TGA. It was demonstrated that PVA / graphite nanofibers are thermally stable up to 300 ° C.