Composite Fibers Having Aligned Inorganic Nano Structures of High Aspect Ratio and Preparation Method

A process for preparation of a composite fiber comprising an array of inorganic nanowires embedded in a polymer matrix, wherein:

• the nanowires have diameter of <100 nm and a high aspect ratio of at least 5 with homogenous dispersion and polymer chains of the polymer matrix and the nanowires are oriented along a fiber axis,
• a nanowire wt % in the composite fiber is in a range of 0.01 to 2 wt %, and
• the inorganic nanowires are non conducting and include at least one of ZnO, or aluminosilicate clay tubes
• the process comprises:
• contacting nanowires having diameter <100 nm and aspect ratio of at least 5 with a polymer to obtain a mixture comprising nanowires and polymer;
• and
• subjecting the mixture through melt or solution homogenization to obtain uniform distribution and homogenous dispersion of nanowires in polymer matrix;
• and subjecting the nanowires in polymer matrix to melt spinning or solution spinning followed by drawing and heat-setting to obtain composite fiber comprising an array of nanowires having diameter <100 nm and aspect ratio of at least 5 oriented along the fiber axis embedded in an oriented polymer matrix.