Fabrication and Characterization of TiO2/Poly(dimethyl siloxane) Composite Fibers with Thermal and Mechanical Stability

摘要

The mechanical stability of titania (TiO2) nanofibers was improved by fabricating TiO2/poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) composite fibers using a combination of hybrid electrospinning and sol-gel methods, followed by heat treatment at 250C for 3 h. The compositions (90/10, 80/20, and 70/30, w/w) of the TiO2/PDMS composite fibers were varied by adjusting the flow rate of the PDMS sol with the flow rate of TiO2 sol fixed. There was no significant change in morphology and average diameter of the as-spun TiO2/PDMS fibers after heat treatment. Both the tensile strength and modulus of the TiO2/PDMS composite fibers increased gradually with increasing PDMS content up to 30 wt %. In addition, from the photo-degradation reaction of methylene blue, the photocatalytic activity of TiO2/PDMS composite fibers was strongly dependent on the TiO2 content (%) in the composite fibers.