Fabrication of Flexible Follow Fibers of Mesoporous Silica

Abstract

Hollow nanofibers with mesoporous silica walls have been fabricated using electrospun polymer nanofibers and surfactant micelles as templates. The nanofibers are the possible candidates for insulating materials due to their high porosity. We aimed to remedy the fragility of the nanofibers by introducing the organo-siloxane into the silica framework. However, the introduction of organosiloxane hindered the formation of ordered mesoporous structure. Also the flexibility of the nanofibers was not sufficiently enhanced. The fabrication of silica nanofibers with hierarchical pore structure was also studied by forming the surfactant-templated silica in the continuous pore structure of polymer nanofibers prepared by electrospinning a polymer blend solution. The silica nanofibers possessed the bimodal internal pore structure originating from the phase separation of polymer blend and surfactant micellar structure.