One step from nanofiber to functional hybrid structure: Pd doped ZnO/SnO2 heterojunction nanofibers with hexagonal ZnO columns for enhanced low-temperature hydrogen gas sensing

In this paper, a novel hybrid structure of Pd doped ZnO/SnO₂ heterojunction nanofibers with hexagonal ZnO columns was one step synthesized from electrospun precursor nanofibers. Due to the synergistic effect of hexagonal ZnO, SnO₂ and Pd, the structure exhibited excellent hydrogen (H₂) gas sensing properties. At low-temperature of 120 °C, the response (R_a/R_g) to 100 ppm H₂ gas exceeded 160, the response/recovery time was only 20 s and 6 s respectively and the limit of detection was only 0.5 ppm. Meanwhile, it also had good selectivity for H₂ gas and excellent linearity. In addition, the materials were characterized by XRD, FESEM, HRTEM, XPS, and the synthesis mechanism and gas sensing mechanism were proposed.     

La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ nanofiber cathode for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells by water-based sol-gel electrospinning: Synthesis and electrochemical behaviour

Water-based sol-gel electrospinning is employed to manufacture perovskite oxide La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3-δ (LSCF) nanofiber cathodes for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. LSCF fibrous scaffolds are synthesized through electrospinning of a sol-gel solution employing water as the only solvent. Morphological characterizations demonstrate that the LSCF fibers have highly crystalline structure with uniform elemental distribution. After heat treatment, the average fiber diameter is 250 nm and the porosity of the nanofiber tissue is 37.5 %. The heat treated LSCF nanofibers are applied directly onto a Ce_0.9Gd_0.1O_1.95 (CGO) electrolyte disk to form a symmetrical cell. Electrochemical characterization is carried out through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in the temperature range 550?°C–950?°C, and reproducibility of the electrochemical performance for a series of cells is demonstrated. At 650?°C, the average measured polarization resistance R_p is 1.0 Ω cm². Measured performance decay is 1 % during the first 33?h of operation at 750?°C, followed by an additional 0.7 % over the subsequent 70?h.     

A New Image Analysis Based Method for Measuring Electrospun Nanofiber Diameter

In this paper, a new image analysis based method for electrospun nanofiber diameter measurement has been presented. The method was tested by a simulated image with known characteristics and a real web. Mean (M) and standard deviation (STD) of fiber diameter obtained using this method for the simulated image were 15.02 and 4.80 pixels respectively, compared to the true values of 15.35 and 4.47 pixels. For the real web, applying the method resulted in M and STD of 324 and 50.4 nm which are extremely close to the values of 319 and 42 nm obtained using manual method. The results show that this approach is successful in making fast, accurate automated measurements of electrospun fiber diameters.     

Electrospinning of collagen-chitosan complex

The collagen-chitosan complex nanofibers have been prepared for the first time by electrospinning. The mixed HFP/TFA (the volume ratio of 90/10) was found to be the appropriate solvent for electrospinning. The concentration of the spinning solution and the ratio of chitosan/collagen were varied and adjusted to get smooth nanofibers. It was found that the diameter of the spun fibers became thick with the concentration of the solution increasing and became fine with the ratio of the chitosan/collagen increasing. We have characterised the molecular interactions in collagen-chitosan complex by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The spun fibers are designed to mimic the native extracellular matrix for tissue engineering and to develop functional biomaterials.     

PIPD/Cu2 纳米纤维气凝胶的制备及性能

以聚(2,5-二羟基-1,4-苯撑吡啶并二咪唑)(PIPD)为基体、三氟乙酸(TFA)和甲烷磺酸(MSA)为混酸,通过混酸剥离-去质子化诱导凝胶-冷冻干燥-惰性气氛高温处理制备出PIPD纳米纤维气凝胶.对PIPD纳米纤维气凝胶的形貌和结构进行表征,结果表明,混酸法制备PIPD纳米纤维气凝胶过程中,强质子酸破环了PIPD纤维的晶区和取向,PIPD主体的化学结构未发生明显变化.制得的PIPD纳米纤维气凝胶具有蜂窝孔结构、低密度(6.90～15.2 mg/cm3)和高孔隙率(99.1％～99.6％).当PIPD含量(以MSA和TFA总质量为基准,下同)不高于1％时,PIPD纳米纤维气凝胶无明显收缩.惰性氛围高温处理使PIPD纳米纤维气凝胶具有弹性.水平垂直燃烧、极限氧指数(LOI)、导热系数测试表明,PIPD含量为0.5％的纳米纤维气凝胶达到不可燃水平(UL-94,V-0级),LOI高达49.2％,100℃下低热传导性〔导热系数为0.052 W/(m·K)〕.此外,引入Cu2+配位交联网络提高PIPD纳米纤维气凝胶的压缩应力,增强后气凝胶的压缩应力是初始PIPD纳米纤维气凝胶的约16倍.     

Electrospinning hollow and core/sheath nanofibers using hydrodynamic fluid focusing

Hollow poly (vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) + TiO₂ and polypyrrole (core)/PVP (sheath) nanofibers were successfully electrospun using hydrodynamic fluid focusing. Utilizing a two-dimensional fluid focusing technique previously applied to aqueous solutions, intersecting microchannels cast in (poly)dimethylsiloxane were utilized to dynamically center core fluids in immiscible sheath fluids prior to electrospinning at the channel outlet. Advantages of using microfluidic channel networks for the electrospinning of composite nanofibers include spatiotemporal control over input reagents, ease of fabrication and the ability to focus the core stream into sheath layer without the need of complex co-annular nozzles.     

Toward optimizing synthesis of nanostructured chiral polyaniline

We report here detailed investigation into optimizing the synthesis of chiral polyaniline nanofibers using an oligomer-assisted route. The effect of temperature, monomer concentration, nature of oligomer, and the rate of oxidant addition on the optical properties of the PANI nanofibers have been carefully determined. Our results indicate that the highest chirality is achieved under conditions that promote interaction of the chiral acid with the growing polymer chain. These chiral polyaniline nanofibers are thermally stable up to 90 °C and are found to be stable against repeated doping-dedoping cycles. The as-synthesized nanofibers are partially crystalline regardless of their chirality. This partial crystallinity may be responsible for their chemical and thermal stability.     

Surface maleylation and naphthaloylation of chitin nanofibers for property enhancement

Surface N-maleylation and N-naphthaloylation of chitin nanofiber (NF) were achieved by reaction with maleic and naphthalic anhydrides in water, respectively. Maleyl and naphthaloyl groups were sufficiently introduced to an amino group on a surface-deacetylated chitin NF. The characteristic nanofiber morphology was maintained after maleylation and naphthaloylation. These NFs were homogeneously dispersed in several organic solvents. Especially, naphthaloyl chitin NF was dispersed even in aromatic solvents, owing to the high level of solvation interactions with the naphthaloyl group. The NF dispersions in those aromatic solvents exhibited a dispersive-to-precipitate transition response at approximately 29 °C. Moreover, the naphthaloyl chitin NF dispersion cut harmful ultraviolet light. The maleyl chitin NF formed a self-standing gel after cross-linking polymerization.     

Photoluminescent properties of Eu3+ doped electrospun CeO2 nanofibers

In this study, CeO₂ nanofibers and that doped with Eu³⁺ were prepared via a facile electrospinning route and annealed at different temperatures ranging from 500 to 900 °C. Their structures were investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Photoluminescence properties of the nanofibers were studied in detail. It was found that the nanofibers with Eu% concentration of 0.67 mol.% and annealed at 700 °C exhibited the highest intensities of the luminescence peaks between 550 and 650 nm.