Characterization of Electrical and Mechanical Properties for Coaxial Nanofibers with Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) Core and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube/PEO Sheath

The present work focuses on the electrical and mechanical characterization of nanocomposite fibers having core-sheath (or bicomponent) morphologies. Owing to their unique mechanical and electrical properties, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been utilized in the nanocomposite construction. Submicron diameter nanofibers (200–300 nm) with core-sheath morphology were fabricated from a polymer/ MWNT solution and collected in random mats. By constraining the MWNTs to the sheath, significant increases in the mechanical properties were observed at lower MWNT concentrations when compared to mats made from single-layer fibers. The electrical properties of the core-sheath mats showed similar gains, having a critical weight percent more than 10 times lower than that of the single-layer mats.