Publication details
Low-temperature plasma-functionalised PHB/halloysite electrospun nanofibers: Enhanced interfacial and mechanical properties
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Peer-reviewed scientific article |
| Magazine / Source | POLYMER |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2025.129505 |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2025.129505 |
| Keywords | DCSBD; Plasma treatment; PHB; Halloysite nanotubes; Mechanical properties; Electrospinning |
| Description | This study introduces a novel strategy to overcome the limitations of electrospun Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) nanofiber mats, particularly their suboptimal mechanical properties. Plasma-powder functionalisation using Diffuse Coplanar Surface Barrier Discharge (DCSBD) for different treatment times (up to 8 min) and subsequently reinforcing it with Halloysite Nanotubes (HNTs) developed an electrospun nanofiber mat with enhanced structural and mechanical properties, demonstrating a potential candidate for advanced applications. Although reinforcing the PHB electrospun nanofibers with HNTs increased the average diameter to 1.89 µm, 2-min plasma functionalisation of PHB powder (2min-pPHB-HNTs) developed a significantly thinner nanofiber mat, resulting in a 48 % decline in the average nanofiber diameter. Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) analysis revealed a well-dispersed HNTs network within the PHB matrix, resulting in a fibrous structure with enhanced tensile strength (4.59 MPa). In comparison, 2min-pPHB-HNTs represented 6.17 MPa in tensile strength. Toughness of the HNTs-reinforced, 2-min plasma-treated mat is 1.23 MJ/m3 compared to 0.65 MJ/m3 for HNTs-reinforced, untreated PHB mat. Also, the samples were characterised with other analytical methods, e.g., SEM, porosity, ATR-FTIR, WCA/SFE, and XRD, to evaluate the efficiency of plasma-powder functionalisation and HNTs reinforcement on the structural and chemical properties of the electrospun PHB-HNTs nanofiber mat. |
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