We present a direct electrospinning fabrication technique for the manufacture of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEDOT:PSS/PEO) polymer fibers containing embedded cubic lanthanum hexaboride (LaB₆) particles. We focus on the impact of relative humidity on the formation of uniform polymer fibers and show that a relative humidity of 5% is optimal, resulting in an average fiber thickness of 266 ± 88 nm. As the relative humidity is increased, the fibers contain beads as a consequence of Rayleigh instabilities. The addition of lanthanum hexaboride cubic particles to the polymer solution before electrospinning results in the encapsulation of the LaB₆ particles inside the fibers. We investigate the effect of LaB₆ particle size on morphology and observe that particles of ∼500 nm yield a fiber-cube-fiber morphology, while 2 μm particles result in fewer embedded cubes along the length of the polymer fibers. This phenomenon likely arises from electrodynamic interactions between the LaB₆ particles in the polymer solution and the electric field lines generated during electrospinning between the spinneret and the collector. Our results display the versatility of the electrospinning technique in the fabrication of unique polymer/hexaboride composite fibers.

中文翻译：

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LaB6/PEDOT：独特形态的 PSS/PEO 纤维复合材料的静电纺丝


我们提出了一种直接静电纺丝制造技术，用于制造含有嵌入立方六硼化镧 （LaB₆） 颗粒的聚（3,4-乙烯二氧噻吩）:p醇（苯乙烯磺酸盐）/聚（环氧乙烷）（PEDOT：PSS/PEO）聚合物纤维。我们关注相对湿度对均匀聚合物纤维形成的影响，并表明 5% 的相对湿度是最佳的，因此平均纤维厚度为 266 ± 88 nm。随着相对湿度的增加，由于瑞利不稳定性，纤维中含有珠子。在静电纺丝之前，将六硼化镧立方颗粒添加到聚合物溶液中，导致 LaB₆ 颗粒封装在纤维内。我们研究了 LaB₆ 粒径对形态的影响，并观察到 ∼500 nm 的颗粒产生纤维-立方体-纤维形态，而 2 μm 颗粒导致沿聚合物纤维长度的嵌入立方体较少。这种现象可能是由聚合物溶液中 LaB₆ 颗粒与喷丝头和捕收器之间静电纺丝过程中产生的电场线之间的电动相互作用引起的。我们的结果表明，静电纺丝技术在制造独特的聚合物/六硼化物复合纤维方面的多功能性。