Preparation and Characterization of Electrospun Core Sheath Nanofibers from Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)

Electrospinning is a versatile technique to prepare polymer fibers in nano to micrometer size ranges using very high electrostatic fields. Electrospun nanofibers with tunable porosity and high specific surface area have various applications, including chromatographic supports for protein separation, biomedical devices, tissue engineering and drug delivery matrices, and as key components in solar cells and supercapacitors. Unspinnable materials such as nanoparticles, nanorods, nanotubes or rigid conducting polymers can also be electrospun into fibers through co-axial electrospinning. In this study, we have prepared core-sheath nanofibers utilizing co-axial electrospinning. The core portion of these electrospun fibers consists of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and the sheath portion is poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). Various morphologies were obtained by changing both core and sheath solution concentrations. The core-sheath nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, to confirm core-sheath morphology, thermogravimetric analysis, and mechanical strength testing. The electrical conductivity of the surfaces of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) fibers and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)-multi-walled nanotube fibers were both 10⁻¹⁵ S/m. The highest bulk conductivity observed for the poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)-multi-walled nanotube fibers was 1.2 × 10⁻³ S/m.