ELECTROSPUN NANOFIBER OF NYLON 6 AND MULTI-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBE COMPOSITES

초록

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess remarkable electrical and mechanical properties coupled with good chemical stability due to unique nanostructures. Thus, polymer composites reinforced with CNTs are considered to have many engineering potentials, ranging from battery electrodes and electronic devices to much stronger composites. Electrospinning is a fast and simple process driven by the electrical forces on the surface of the polymeric fluids, producing continuous single nanofibers using an electrostatic force. In this work, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were incorporated in electrospun Nylon 6 nanofibers via an electrospinning process. The MWNTs used were synthesized by a thermal CVD method. To eliminate metallic catalyst residues in as synthesized MWNTs, they were treated in HNO3 and HCl. The potential adhesion between the MWNTs and Nylon 6 was expected by the interaction between the amide group of Nylon 6 and the oxygen-containing species on the MWNTs such as carboxylic acid group introduced during the purification step. Contrary to the previous works on electrospinning using a simple blend of CNT with polymeric materials, we incorporated MWNTs as nanoscale fillers by in-situ polymerization. We also investigated morphology and the electrical conductivity of the electrospun Nylon 6 nanofibers with MWNTs.