Electrode polarity effects in electrospinning organic/inorganic hybrid nanofibers

In this study, organic/alumina hybrid nanofibers were successfully prepared using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyvinyl butyral (PVB) polymers. The influence of electrode polarity on fiber morphology was discussed for the preparation of high-performance nanofibers. The morphology of PVB/alumina fibers varied greatly with the change of voltage especially in the case of the negative pole. However, the diameters of PVP/alumina nanofibers remained largely unchanged, and the negatively charged fibers were more uniform. TEM and FT-IR results proved that polymers, crosslinked with inorganic particles, can effectively improve the stability and uniformity of the morphology and microstructure of organic/inorganic hybrid fibers.