Electrospun silica/nafion hybrid products: mechanical property improvement, wettability tuning and periodic structure adjustment

Abstract

The sol–gel process and electrospinning were used to fabricate a series of silica/Nafion electrospun hybrid products with no aggregation of the inorganic component. The excellent flexibility of the as-obtained silica/Nafion non-woven membrane and a single hybrid fiber was demonstrated and compared with the brittleness of pure electrospun silica membrane. The difference in wettability between the electrospun silica/Nafion hybrid product and bulk aqueous sol could be caused by the molecular orientation of Nafion during the electrospinning process. The hydrophobic behaviour, improved mechanical performance and good thermal stability made the silica/Nafion hybrid membrane a good candidate for oil–water separation. One-dimensional periodic structures still formed in silica/Nafion hybrid products with a lower Nafion content, although they disappeared completely at a higher Nafion content.