Preparation and Characterization of Carbon Nanofibersvia Electrospun PAN Nanoflbers

Preparation and Characterization of Carbon Nanofibers via Electrospun PAN Nanofibers

The paper reports the fabrication and characterization of polyacrylonitril (PAN)nanotibers by electrospinning and further development of the as-spun PAN nanofibers intocarbon nanofibers. PAN nanofibers as a precursor of carbon nanofibers with diameters in therange of 100-350 nm were prepared by elcctrospinning of PAN/DMF solution, The alignedelectrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers first stabilized in air at temperature 290°C forI hr. We also investigated several carbonization procedures by varying final carbonizationtemperatures in the range from 800-1000°C in nitrogen and argon atmospheres and the carbonnanofibers were successfully obtained at 800 C and I hr. Morphologies, structures andthermal properties of PAN, stabilized and carbonized nanofibers were investigated byscanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectrometer (lR), thermal gravimetricanalysis (TGA), The results obtained from scanning electron microscopy showed that thenanofibers are unidirectional aligned and after stabilization and carbonization the SEMresults revealed that the average diameter of the stabilized PAN nanofibers appeared to bealmost the same as that of the as-electrospun nanofihers, while the average diameters of thecarbonized PAN nanofibers were significantly reduced, and also scanning electronmicroscopy without any gold coating

The paper reports the fabrication and characterization of polyacrylonitril (PAN) nanofibers by electrospinning and further development of the as-spun PAN nanofibers into carbon nanofibers. PAN nanofibers as a precursor of carbon nanofibers with diameters in the range of 100-350 nm were prepared by electrospinning of PAN/DMF solution. The aligned electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers first stabilized in air at temperature 290°C for 1 hr. We also investigated several carbonization procedures by varying final carbonization temperatures in the range from 800-1000°C in nitrogen and argon atmospheres and the carbon nanofibers were successfully obtained at 800 C and 1 hr. Morphologies, structures and thermal properties of PAN, stabilized and carbonized nanofibers were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectrometer (IR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The results obtained from scanning electron microscopy showed that the nanofibers are unidirectional aligned and after stabilization and carbonization the SEM results revealed that the average diameter of the stabilized PAN nanofibers appeared to be almost the same as that of the as-electrospun nanofibers, while the average diameters of the carbonized PAN nanofibers were significantly reduced, and also scanning electron microscopy without any gold coating.