Investigation of electroactive behavior of PVA/TiO2 nanofibers webs coated with polyaniline

摘要

In the present research, PVA/TiO2 nanofiber webs were electrospun to make flexible web actuators and the effect of TiO2 nanoparticles was investigated on the morphology, electrical and mechanical properties, and electrochemical actuation. In manufacturing part, increasing the percentage of nanoparticles enhances both the viscosity of the polymer solution and the mean fiber diameter. The electrical resistance of nanofibers webs reduced with reducing applied pressure and with increasing percentage of TiO2 nanoparticles. It is observed that TiO2 nanoparticles increased the electrochemical redox reaction and the actuation strain of polyaniline-coated nanofiber webs. Also, 15wt% nanoparticle exhibits an actuation strain of 2.9%. The results obtained from the image analysis indicated that the actuation strain of fibers is considerably higher than that of the nanofiberous webs.