Orientation Development in Electrospun Liquid—Crystalline Polymer Nanofibers

Abstract

Banded structures in electrospun liquid-crystalline polymer, poly(hexyl isocyanate) (PHIC), are used to establish a direct relationship between fiber diameter and orientational order of polymer chains. The effect of solution concentration on the morphology of electrospun PHIC is discussed. Using polarized light optical microscopy (POM), the local molecular orientation of the polymer chains within the fibers can be measured. The degree of orientation of the polymer chains with respect to the fiber axis is found to increase with decreasing fiber diameters. Electron diffractions of PHIC are also obtained and compared with the results from POM.