Polyacrylonitrile‐based electrospun nanofibers – A critical review

Abstract

This review is based on the fundamental aspects and applications of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)‐based electrospun composite nanofibers. Various electrospinning techniques have been discussed here. polyacrylonitrile is an acrylic polymer of commercial significance that has superior thermal, mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. The integration of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers with nanoparticles including carbon nanotubes, graphene nanosheets, graphene oxide, metal oxides, and their combinations has greatly improved the physicochemical properties of the polyacrylonitrile electrospun nanofibers. The enhanced features of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers have resulted from interfacial bonding of nitrile groups with the nanofiller used, chemical compositions, hydrophobicity, porosity, and wettability of these nanofibers. This article fundamentally features a few key possibilities of polyacrylonitrile‐based electrospun composite nanofibers and their applications. A special focus has been made on polyacrylonitrile‐based inorganic nanoparticles, graphene nanosheets, graphene oxide, and carbon nanotubes embedded electrospun nanofibers, for their potential applications in supercapacitors, high power batteries, filtration membranes, electromagnetic interference shielding, and strain sensors. Achieving low cost, high selectivity, excellent recyclability, and high absorption capability are the major challenges for electrospun nanofiber fabrications. These electrospun nanofibers require extensive research in the future to advance the technologies to bring them to the commercial market.

Advancing Nanofiber Research: Assessing Nonsolvent Contributions to Structure Using Coaxial Electrospinning

“…With the injection of water as the nonsolvent (0.1 mL/h), the average diameter increased by 50% to 573 nm. This increase was likely attributed to the strong interactions between the nonsolvent water and PAN . As water injection rates increased, the average nanofiber diameter continually decreased, reaching 247 nm, due to the formation of a large number of beads that significantly reduced the size of the fiber portions.…”

“…This increase was likely attributed to the strong interactions between the nonsolvent water and PAN. 46 As water injection rates increased, the average nanofiber diameter continually decreased, reaching 247 nm, due to the formation of a large number of beads that significantly reduced the size of the fiber portions. Similarly, nanofibers with EG as the nonsolvent exhibited a comparable trend, with a decreased nanofiber diameter as nonsolvent injection rates increased.…”

A Novel Method to Enhance the Mechanical Properties of Polyacrylonitrile Nanofiber Mats: An Experimental and Numerical Investigation

“…This method enables the production of nanofibrous structures through a straightforward single-step process, offering precise control over fiber diameters ranging from as small as ten nanometers to several hundred nanometers. Electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers serve as a fundamental base for continuous carbon nanofibers [2], optical and sensor materials [3], nanocomposites [4], tissue scaffolds [5,6], wound healing [7,8], drug delivery systems [9], filtration solutions [10], protective gear [11,12], and intelligent textiles [13].…”

Critical Electrospinning Parameters for Synthesis Control of Stabilized Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibers

“…The first report on the use of electrospinning to produce PAN nanofibers was published by Reneker and Chun in 1996 [19]; subsequently, this technique was widely used, especially with PAN as a precursor [20][21][22][23]. The polymer molecular weight, solution concentration, voltage, flow rate, spinneret-collector distance, and environmental factors influence the electrospinning process and the resulting fiber properties [24][25][26]. Other electrospun nanofiber applications are in environmental toxicant sensors or personal healthcare devices through conjugated copolymers (CCP) that can be used for sensing various environments, such as metal ions, pH, temperature, humidity, etc.…”