Bimodal fiber diameter distributed graphene oxide/nylon-6 composite nanofibrous mats via electrospinning

In this work, nylon-6 spider-wave-like nano-nets are fabricated by regulating the amount of graphene oxide (GO) in polymer solution during electrospinning. The spider-wave-like nano-nets that comprise interlinked thin (≈14 nm diameter) and thick fibers (≈192 nm diameter) are widely distributed throughout the mat when suitable amount of GO is blended with nylon-6 solution. The heterogeneous composite mats were composed of bimodal nanofibers in which pore diameter was sufficiently decreased. The acceleration in ionization and degradation of nylon-6 (due to formic acid) solution caused by well-dispersed GO sheet as well as the formation of hydrogen bond between nylon-6 molecules and GO sheet during electrospinning are proposed as the possible mechanisms for the formation of these spider-wave-like nano-nets.

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► Large scale fabrication of spider-wave-like nano-nets of nylon-6 was carried out by adding suitable amounts of GO.
► The mechanism of formation of bimodal fibers which differs by one order in their diameter was proposed.
► The suitable amounts of GO required to fabricate bimodal spider-wave-like nano-nets was investigated.