Nanocomposite polyacrylonitrile filaments with titanium dioxide and silver nanoparticles for multifunctionality

Nanocomposite polyacrylonitrile filaments containing titanium dioxide and silver nanoparticles were produced by wet-spinning method with the aim of developing multifunctional filaments showing antibacterial activity, photocatalytic activity, and electrical conductivity. The nanocomposite filaments were characterized regarding their morphology, composition, nanoparticle dispersion, tensile properties, crystallinity, conductivity, thermal properties, photocatalytic, and antibacterial activity. The nanoparticles were observed to be well dispersed. The composite filaments with 3 wt% silver nitrate showed improved crystallinity. The highest breaking tenacity of 8.72 cN/tex was observed for the filament with 1 wt% TiO2 and 3 wt% AgNO3. The conductivity of the nanocomposite filaments were on the order of 10−4 S/cm, which is in the semiconductive range. The nanocomposite filaments displayed both antibacterial and photocatalytic activity. This study showed the possibility of producing multifunctional filaments wit...