PVDF/Carbon black composite fibers produced by blow-spinning technique

Full text: In the last few years, Carbon Black (CB) nanoparticles have been show a great potential for metal ion adsorption, such as Cu, Ni, Cd, Pb, Ag and Am in water, and its potential can be improved by CB oxidation. In this work, PVDF/CB polymeric microfibers were successfully produced by blow-spinning technique (SBS). PVDF is a highly non-reactive thermoplastic fluoropolymer that exhibits high hydrophobicity, great chemical and thermal stability, and its physical properties make it a really interesting candidate for many applications, including fiber production for water treatment. The PVDF precursor solutions were obtained by dissolving 2% (m/v) of the polymer into Dimethylformamide under constant stirring by 2 hours at 70°C. The CB nanoparticles, purchase from Orion Chemical Company, add to the PVDF solution with different weight proportions (PVDF:CB); 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, and dispersed by sonication. The composite microfibers was successfully produced by SBS using the following processing conditions: injection rate of 0.11 mL/min, gas pressure of 120 kPa, work distance of 25 cm, and needle diameter of 22 gauge. The composite microfibers was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), to evaluate the aspect ratio and morphology of the fibers. The fiber diameter distribution were measured using IMAGE J, software analysis by examining 100 random fibers from SEM images with 1000x magnification. The microfiber diameter was determined around 600 nm. The structural properties was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) which reveals a coexistence of the alpha and beta-phase for PVDF. FTIR spectroscopy studies revealed a good interaction between the CB and PVDF polymeric chains. (author)