Conductivity measurement of nanostructured film of PAA-PAN-GOLD nanoparticles: article

The effect of humidity on electrospun fibre morphology and conductivity on gold nanoparticles loading were investigated in the study. To produce nanoscale range of nanofibers and a consistent submicron size of fibres, electrospinning technique was introduced. Polymer blend of polyacrylic acid (PAA) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solution were used to form electrospun fibre. Mixture of PAA/PAN solution was used as precursor for the electrospinning. The distance from the tip of the needle to the aluminum foil plate for electrospinning, voltage, temperature and feed rate were kept constant. The humidity of the process was varied at 30%, 40%, 50% and 60% relative humidity (RH). 0.1 ml of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was used and added to the electrospun fibre. Then characterization analysis was done using SEM analysis and EIS analysis. Different humidity shows different morphology and different fibre size distribution. The average fibre diameter was the highest at 60% RH. Average fibre diameter increased as relative humidity increased and the fibre size distribution also increased as the relative humidity increased. Conductivity measured was the highest at 30% RH with the addition of AuNPs. AuNPs was an ideal material used to enhance conductivity.