Morphology, thermal and mechanical properties of PVAc/ TiO2 hybrid nanofibers

Abstract

Organic/inorganic hybrid was successfully prepared by sol-gel technique, which consisted of polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) as organic segment and titanium dioxide (TiO2) as inorganic part. The PVAc/ TiO2 hybrid nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning. The structures and properties of the hybrid nanofibers were investigated by transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and tensile testing. SEM observation revealed the fibrous structures of the hybrid nanofibers. AFM and TEM images indicated the surface morphology and inner structures of the hybrid nanofibers. It was found by TGA analysis that the thermal stability of pure PVAc nanofibers was enhanced by the increase of TiO2 phase. The breaking strength was increased while the breaking elongation was decreased as the TiO2 content increased.