Electrospinning of Polycarbonate/Tetrapyrazinoindoloporphyrazine Composite Fibers

Abstract

We have fabricated polycarbonate/tetrapyrazinoindoloporphyrazine composite fibers using the electrospinning technique. The purpose of this research is to verify the capability of tetrapyrazinoindoloporphyrazines to maintain the optical and electronic properties when they are blended with polycarbonate to form spin-coated films and electro-spun fibers. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirms the chemical composition of composite films and fibers, and the N 1s peak indicates no significant interaction between polycarbonate and tetrapyrazinoindoloporphyrazine. UV-vis spectroscopy shows a strong Q band from the polycarbonate/tetrapyrazinoindoloporphyrazine composite film, and the Q band is almost identical with the Q band from tetrapyrazinoindoloporphyrazine itself. This is consistent with the XPS N 1s data indicating no interaction between polycarbonate and tetrapyrazinoindoloporphyrazine. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals the effect of solvent on the morphology of the electro-spun fibers. The diameters of fibers fabricated from chloroform solutions range from 5 to 20 μm. The fibers from cyclohexanone solutions have ultra-fine structures with diameters between 50 and 200 nm but contain droplets along their lengths.

Keywords:

• electrospinning
• nanofiber
• phthalocyanine
• polycarbonate
• X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the research fund of Hanyang University (HY-2006-S).