Iqbal Qais, Bernstein Peter, Zhu Yazhe, Rahamim Joseph, Cebe Peggy, Staii Cristian
Nanotechnology. 2015 Mar 13;26(10):105702. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/26/10/105702. Epub 2015 Feb 16.
We use atomic force microscopy (AFM) to perform a systematic quantitative characterization of the elastic modulus and dielectric constant of poly(L-lactic acid) electrospun nanofibers (PLLA), as well as composites of PLLA fibers with 1.0 wt% embedded multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-PLLA). The elastic moduli are measured in the fiber skin region via AFM nanoindentation, and the dielectric constants are determined by measuring the phase shifts obtained via electrostatic force microscopy (EFM). We find that the average value for the elastic modulus for PLLA fibers is (9.8 ± 0.9) GPa, which is a factor of 2 larger than the measured average elastic modulus for MWCNT-PLLA composites (4.1 ± 0.7) GPa. We also use EFM to measure dielectric constants for both types of fibers. These measurements show that the dielectric constants of the MWCNT-PLLA fibers are significantly larger than the corresponding values obtained for PLLA fiber. This result is consistent with the higher polarizability of the MWCNT-PLLA composites. The measurement methods presented are general, and can be applied to determine the mechanical and electrical properties of other polymers and polymer nanocomposites.
我们使用原子力显微镜(AFM)对聚(L-乳酸)电纺纳米纤维(PLLA)以及含有1.0 wt%嵌入多壁碳纳米管的PLLA纤维复合材料(MWCNT-PLLA)的弹性模量和介电常数进行系统的定量表征。通过AFM纳米压痕在纤维表层区域测量弹性模量,通过测量静电力显微镜(EFM)获得的相移来确定介电常数。我们发现PLLA纤维弹性模量的平均值为(9.8 ± 0.9) GPa,这比MWCNT-PLLA复合材料测量得到的平均弹性模量(4.1 ± 0.7) GPa大2倍。我们还使用EFM测量了两种纤维的介电常数。这些测量结果表明,MWCNT-PLLA纤维的介电常数明显大于PLLA纤维的相应值。该结果与MWCNT-PLLA复合材料更高的极化率一致。所提出的测量方法具有通用性,可用于确定其他聚合物和聚合物纳米复合材料的力学和电学性能。