Plasma-treated electrospun nanofibers as a template for the electrostatic assembly of silver nanoparticles

Functional nanostructures consisting of nanoparticles and electrospun nanofibers have shown potential applications in many fields. To assemble nanoparticles on nanofibers, sophisticated chemical modification of either the nanoparticles or the nanofibers is commonly required. In this work, a simple yet efficient air plasma treatment was used to introduce hydrophilic groups onto hydrophobic poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) electrospun nanofibers without altering the original morphology of the nanofibers. Using an ex situ strategy, silver nanoparticles were successfully assembled on the plasma modified electrospun nanofiber membrane through electrostatic interaction. Moreover, the obtained nanocomposite membrane exhibited excellent surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) performance. Highly reproducible and sensitive SERS substrates based on such three-dimensional hybrid nanostructures were prepared. It was also found that silver nanoparticles could be immobilized on plasma treated polyacrylonitrile (PAN) electrospun nanofibers, demonstrating the generality of plasma modification for preparing hybrid electrospun nanofiber membranes. It is believed that this facile strategy is adaptable and promising in the fabrication of novel functional nanocomposites.