Xiaoyan Zhao

The Controllable Surface Morphology of Polyimide (PI) Electrospun Fibers

Electrospun materials have been proposed for application for gas filtration, drug carriers, and tissue engineering. The surface morphology of electrospun fibers is the key for consideration for the above applications, such as pore size on the fiber surface, surface area, and roughness. In this work, we investigated the influence of polymer/solvent properties on soluble polyimide (PI) fibers. The studied PIs included three fluorinated aromatic polyimides containing naphthalene pendant groups. By using various solvents we adjusted the size, shape, and structure of the fibers. As a result, PI electrospun fibers could be achieved with width around 10 μm. The rough and smooth surface morphologies were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Surface wettability of the electrospun fiber membranes were characterized by contact angle measurement. The contact angles on the electrospun PI fiber mats for water and glycerol were in the range of 137.6°–144.5° and 139.1°–143.6°, respectively. Moreover, the rough fiber surface could make the electrospun fiber membrane possess good adhesive force for liquids. The results suggest that we could widen the application of electrospun membranes through controlling the fiber morphology.

Structure and filtration performance of fibrous composite membranes containing environmentally friendly materials for water purification

A fibrous composite membrane consisting of a chitosan (CS) barrier layer and a poly(hydroxybutyrate-cohydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) fibrous substrate was manufactured as a filter for water purification. The PHBV fibrous supporting layer was fabricated via electrospinning technique, and then the CS solution cast on the PHBV fibers to form the top barrier layer. The structural morphology, mechanical property and adsorption capability of the PHBV/CS membranes were thoroughly investigated. Three heavy metal ions were used to evaluate the equilibrium absorption capacities of the chosen membranes. The equilibrium absorption capacities for Cu(II), Pb(II) and Cd(II) were 64.08 mg/g, 90.32 mg/g and 148.96 mg/ g, respectively. Meanwhile, the rejection ratio of PHBV/CS composite membrane for two disperse dyes could reach to 99 %. The results indicated that PHBV fibrous substrate could not only enhance the mechanical strength of the top barrier layer, but also improve the water permeation of the membrane. This study extended the application of an environmentally friendly material in the water purification without causing much trouble about scrap film.

Synthesis, characterization and protonation study of novel poly(thioether imide)s based on aromatic heterocyclic diimide

Novel poly(thioether imide)s were synthesized by 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole, and aromatic heterocyclic chlorodiimids through nucleophilic substitution reaction as alkali catalysts were presented. The poly(thioether imide)s exhibited good thermal property. The glass transition temperatures of polymers were around 373 °C, and 10% weight loss temperatures were in the range of 450–500 °C in nitrogen/air atmosphere. Meanwhile, the chloroform dilute solutions of these polymers could show strong UV-vis absorption peaks at about 289 nm. After being protonated by inorganic acids (HCl), the new shoulder absorption peaks were observed at 350 nm. The PL absorption bands of polymer solutions were in the region of 350–550 nm, which showed the green-yellow fluorescence.

Photoluminescence electrospun membranes of poly(aryl ether)s with hydrophobicity

Photoluminescence electrospun fibers were prepared from poly(aryl ether)s solutions. The porosity and wrinkle fibers could be observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of solution properties on fiber surface morphologies was studied. Meanwhile, the rough fiber surfaces could make the electrospun membranes possess water repellency. The contact angles of electrospun membranes for water were around 140°. The emission spectra of these membranes indicated that the fibers exhibited multi-color including sapphire blue, olive green and rose red. It could provide a proposal for improving flexible optoelectronic devices based on electrospun membranes of conjugated polymers.