Spontaneous formation of poly(p-phenylenevinylene) nanofiber yarns through electrospinning of a precursor

The fabrication of centimeters-long poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV) nanofiber yarns by electrospinning of a soluble precursor and subsequent thermal conversion was investigated. The effect of spinning conditions on morphology and structure of the resulting nanofiber yarns was also studied. It was observed that the Fourier transform infrared radiation (FTIR) spectrum of the resulting PPV yarns measured with a FTIR-8100 shows a clear peak at 965 cm-1 corresponding to the trans-vinylene C-H out-of-plane bend but no absorption at 632 cm-1 to the C-S stretch of the precursor. It was found that the diffraction patterns of the side and end views of the PPV yarns are substantially the same, indicating no notable orientation of PPV chains on a molecular level.