Thermal radiative properties of electrospun superfine fibrous PVA films

This paper reports on an experimental investigation of the thermal radiative properties of electrospun superfine fibrous PVA films containing or without containing TiO2 nanoparticles. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to measure the spectral transmission of the superfine fibrous PVA films, from which the Rosseland extinction coefficients and thermal radiative conductivities of the samples were then calculated. The results showed that electrospun fibrous PVA and PVA/TiO2 films had significantly greater Rosseland extinction coefficients and lower thermal radiative conductivities than the conventional polymer foams (e.g. PE and PU). The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images showed that the electrospun PVA fibres had the diameters in range of 150-300 nm. The super fineness of the fibres in the PVA films is believed to be the main reason for the reduction of thermal radiative conductivity. The study also showed that the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles can increase the thermal insulating performance of the electrospun fibrous materials. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.