TOPO-capped silver selenide nanoparticles and their incorporation into polymer nanofibers using electrospinning technique
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences, Vaal University of Technology, Private Bag X021, Vanderbijlpark 1900 (South Africa)
- School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Johannesburg 2050 (South Africa)
- Nanotechnology Innovation Centre, Advanced Materials Division, Mintek, Private Bag X3015, Randburg 2125 South Africa (South Africa)
Highlights: • Ag{sub 2}Se nanoparticles produced spherical particles with sizes 12 nm (180 °C) and 27 nm (200 °C). • Higher temperature produced increased particle size (∼75 nm) and changed in shape. • Ag{sub 2}Se nanoparticles (0.2–0.6%) added into PVP (35–45%) to yield reduced fiber beading. • Polymer nanofibers electrospun at 11–20 kV produced fiber diameters of 425–461 nm. • Optical properties in the fibers were observed due to the Ag{sub 2}Se nanoparticles loaded. - Abstract: Electrospinning is the most common technique for fabricating polymer fibers as well as nanoparticles embedded polymer fibers. Silver selenide nanoparticles were synthesized using tri-n-octylphosphine (TOP) as solvent and tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) as capping environment. Silver selenide was prepared by reacting silver nitrate and selenium with tri-n-octylphosphine (TOP) to form TOP–Ag and TOP–Se solutions. Both absorption and emission spectra signify the formation of nanoparticles as well as the TEM which revealed spherical particles with an average particle size of 22 nm. The polymer, PVP used was prepared at concentrations ranging from (35 to 45 wt%) and the TOPO-capped silver selenide nanoparticles (0.2 and 0.6 wt%) were incorporated into them and electrospun by varying the voltage from 11 to 20 kV. The SEM images of the Ag{sub 2}Se/PVP composite fibers revealed the fibers of diameters with average values of 425 and 461 nm. The X-ray diffraction results show peaks which were identified due to α-Ag{sub 2}Se body centered cubic compound. The sharp peak observed for all the samples at 2θ = 44.5 suggest the presence of Ag in the face centered cubic which can be attributed to higher concentration of silver nitrate used with molar ratio of selenium to silver and the abundance of silver in the silver selenide crystal. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy were used to characterize the structure of the PVP/Ag{sub 2}Se composite fibers.
- OSTI ID:
- 22475752
- Journal Information:
- Materials Research Bulletin, Vol. 65; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2015 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0025-5408
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ABSORPTION
BCC LATTICES
CRYSTALS
EMISSION SPECTRA
FCC LATTICES
FIBERS
FOURIER TRANSFORM SPECTROMETERS
NANOFIBERS
NANOPARTICLES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PVP
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SILVER NITRATES
SILVER SELENIDES
THERMAL GRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
TRIOCTYLPHOSPHINE OXIDE
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
X-RAY DIFFRACTION