New solvent for polyamides and its application to the electrospinning of polyamides 11 and 12

Polyamides with long hydrocarbon chains, e.g. PA11 and PA12, are generally dissolved in phenolic or fluoric solvents that prevent these polymers from being electrospun and used in many applications because of their high boiling point and/or prohibitive cost. We demonstrate that a mixture of formic acid and dichloromethane can lead to the dissolution of various polyamides enabling their subsequent electrospinning. Nanofibers and nanoribbons of 130 nm and greater in average diameter were obtained and characterized using scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy.