Electrospun PANI-PMMA and PANI-PMMA-AgNO3 Composite Nanofibers

In this paper we report upon the preparation and characterization of electrospun nanofibers of doped polyaniline (PANI)/poly(methyl methacrylate) PANI-PMMA/AgNO3 by electrospinning technique. At first, Doped polyaniline (PANI) was obtained by the polymerization of aniline using chemical oxidative polymerization in the presence of ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS). The doped PANI was dedoped by ammonia solution. Then, the electrospinning method was applied on the solutions involving PANI-PMMA, PANI-PMMA-AgNO3. The as-prepared PANI-PMMA and PANI-PMMA-AgNO3 composite nanofibers were investigated for structural characterizations by means of SEM, FTIR and UV-VIS. SEM technique was used to investigate the morphology of the accumulated fibers or particles on the Al surface collector. SEM revealed the nanofibers with the diameter Micro to nanofibers formed a nonwoven material with highly porous and agglomerated structure. The presence of Ag in the case of Ag containing composite nanofibers was confirmed by EDAX.