Electrical properties of ZnO/nylon-6 spider-wave-like nanonets prepared via electrospinning

In this work, ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) incorporated electrospun nylon-6 spider-wave-like nanonets with improved electrical properties were successfully fabricated by simple blending of ZnO NPs with nylon-6 solution. Proper dispersion of ZnO NPs with nylon-6 solution not only produce well distributed ZnO NPs on/into the fibres but also accelerate the formation of large number of thin fibres in the form of spider-wave-like nanonets. The incorporation of ZnO NPs through spider-wave-like nylon-6 nanonets was verified by FESEM, EDX, TEM, TGA, FT-IR analysis. The electrical properties of pristine nylon-6 and ZnO/nylon-6 composite fibres was investigated by current-voltage (I-V) characteristic measurement. It was found that ZnO incorporated nylon-6 composite mats had better electrical conductivity than pristine nylon-6 mat. This result was due to the influence of ultrathin nanofibers and well incorporated ZnO NPs through electrospun nylon-6 fibers. The significant enhanced electrical properties of composite mat may open a new direction for future polymer electronics.