Solar energy is a kind of renewable energies that can be converted into other forms of energy using converters such as photothermal electrospun membranes. The mentioned membranes are a polymeric structure consisting of smart nanofibers that absorb sunlight in a specific wavelength and convert it into heat. The research is aimed at producing and characterizing a photothermal membrane based on polystyrene via the electrospinning process. The membrane is turned into photothermal by incorporating carbon black nanoparticles (CB NPs) into the membrane structure. Then, the membrane surface was endowed with hydrophobic property through low-pressure plasma polymerization using perfluorooctyl acrylate (PFOA) monomer. According to the captured FE-SEM images, electrospinning under the specified operating conditions resulted in uniform bead-free nanofibers. It was also observed that using the electrospinning solution containing a maximum of 1 wt.% CB NPs leads to nanofibers with smaller diameter compared to the CB NPs-free solution. At higher concentrations of CB NPs, the dominance of solution viscosity yields to nanofibers with larger diameter. By eva‎luating the surface temperature and the light absorption spectrum of the prepared membranes, it was found that the CB NPs imparts the photothermal property to the polystyrene electrospun membrane. In this regard, the surface temperature of the membrane containing 5 wt.% CB NPs rose to ~79°C and its spectrum exhibited an absorption of ~98%. Measuring the tensile strength of the electrospun membrane containing CB NPs with concentration of 5 wt.% showed a 72% increase compared to the CB NPs-free membrane. After modifying the surface of the membranes using low-pressure plasma polymerization of PFOA monomers, the water droplet angle on the membranes surface was measured as 131°. Additionally, the polymerization of the PFOA monomers on the surface of membranes was also confirmed by FTIR-ATR spectroscopy. Both of these experiments, verified the success of the low-pressure plasma polymerization process to create hydrophobicity in the polystyrene electrospun membranes.

حسين فشندي

صديقه برهاني , افسانه ولي پوري