Facile preparation of ultrafine polyimide nanofibers containing silver nanoparticles

A simple method for the preparation of ultrafine polyimide (PI) fibers containing Ag nanoparticles was developed. Ag+ ions in a poly(amic acid) (PAA) precursor solution were firstly electrospun into ultrafine PAA fibers, and the Ag+ ions were then directly reduced to Ag nanoparticles during the imidization process of PAA. The PAA was used as a matrix as well as a reducing agent for the Ag+ ions. The obtained Ag nanoparticles were evenly distributed in the PI nanofiber mats and their average size was ca. 20 nm. This method was very simple and could be generally used to prepare the polyimide fibers containing Ag nanoparticles.