(781c) Electrospun Polyvinylpyrrolidone Nanocomposite Fibers with Magnetization and Fluorescent Emission

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized from a facile thermodecomposition method from iron pentacarbonyl and the subsequent silica coating on the MNP surface to obtain core-shell structured composite particles (MNPs-SiO₂) was achieved via a modified Stöber process. Both pure polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) fibers and its MNPs-SiO₂ nanocomposite fibers were produced via an electrospinning process with optimized operational parameters such as polymer concentration, applied electrical voltage, feed rate and tip-to-collector distance. All these parameters show an opposite effect on the produced fiber diameter which is different from a conventional sense. This unique phenomenon could be explained from the stretching and contraction force balance within the fiber. The diameter and morphology of the resulting PVP fibers are correlated to the corresponding rheological behaviors of the PVP solutions with different concentrations. The MNPs-SiO₂/PVP nanocomposite fibers exhibit comparable thermal stability than that of pure PVP. However, unique fluorescent and magnetic properties have been incorporated simultaneously in the nanocomposite fibers with the addition of small amount of core-shell nanoparticles.