Fabrication of functionalized nanofiber membranes containing nanoparticles

The present scenario is that neutral or uncharged polymers are electrospun first followed by surface modification to introduce the functional groups onto the nanofibers surface. These groups improve the adhesion between the nanofibers and materials to be coated. The surface modification involves significant steps to get desired functional groups on the nanofibers surface and also time consuming. This paper deals with one step fabrication of nanofibers with hydroxyl functional groups. Nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) with cellulose acetate (CA) or cellulose (C). Deposition of various metal oxide nanoparticles on these nanofiber surfaces was carried out using liquid phase deposition (LPD) and electrospraying techniques. Distribution of the nanoparticles and aggregation minimization were obtained by optimization of electrospraying technique. The nucleation density and the morphology of coated nanoparticles by LPD technique on PET surface were lower amount, whereas they are higher on PET/CA and PET/C blended surface, due to hydroxyl functional groups on the blended nanofiber surface, which is a novel. This study is helpful to understand about the complimentary information of the process based on the adoption of these two techniques. The characterizations of these nanofibers were carried out by using SEM, contact angle analysis, tensile, porosity measurements, and EDAX analysis. These membranes find potential applications as filter media in protective clothing and air filter applications.