Supercritical Carbon Dioxide-Treated Electrospun Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Nanofibrous Membranes: Morphology, Structures and Properties as an Ionic-Liquid Host

Wu Aik Yee; Shanxin Xiong; Guoqiang Ding; Chien Anh Nguyen; Pooi See Lee; Jan Ma; Masaya Kotaki; Ye Liu; Xuehong Lu

doi:10.1002/marc.201000201

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide-Treated Electrospun Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Nanofibrous Membranes: Morphology, Structures and Properties as an Ionic-Liquid Host

Macromol Rapid Commun. 2010 Oct 18;31(20):1779-84. doi: 10.1002/marc.201000201.

Authors

Wu Aik Yee¹, Shanxin Xiong, Guoqiang Ding, Chien Anh Nguyen, Pooi See Lee, Jan Ma, Masaya Kotaki, Ye Liu, Xuehong Lu

Affiliation

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore.

PMID: 21567593
DOI: 10.1002/marc.201000201

Abstract

A reverse-barrier technique is used to enable the treatment of electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanofibrous membranes with supercritical carbon dioxide. The treatment induces the formation of nanopores and extended-chain β crystallites of small lateral dimensions in the nanofibers. It also creates interfiber junctions, resulting in a remarkable improvement in mechanical properties of the membranes. The treated membranes are able to retain their shape very well after loading with an ionic liquid (IL). The ionic conductivity of the IL-loaded membrane is very close to that of the neat IL.