Properties of Electrospun Polyacrylonitrile Membranes and Chemically-activated Carbon Nanofibers

Abstract

Electrospinning was used to make activated carbon nanofibers with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as the precursor. The applied voltage was found to be more influential on electrospun PAN fiber diameters than the flow rate and needle tip-collector distance. Tensile load and tear strength of electrospun PAN membranes increased with thickness, accompanied with a decrease in air permeability; however, burst strength was not significantly influenced by the thickness. Electrospun PAN nanofiber membranes were stabilized in air and then activated at 800°C with KOH as the activating agent to make activated carbon nanofibers. Stabilized PAN membranes showed different breaking behaviors from those before stabilization. The maximum tensile stress of the stabilized PAN membranes from different concentrations was affected differently by the stabilization process. The resulting activated carbon nanofibers had no C ≡ N bond. The activation process generated micropores which contributed to a large surface area of 936.2 m2/g and a micropore volume of 0.59 cc/g. Pore size distributions of electrospun PAN and activated carbon nanofibers were analyzed based on the Dubinin-Astakhov equation and the generalized Halsey equation. The results showed that activated carbon nanofibers had many more micropores than electrospun PAN, increasing their potential applications in adsorption.

Electrospun Composite Nanofibers and Polymer Composites

“…Beside composite applications of electrospun carbon nanofibers, these materials can be used as filter media also and can be applied to remove disinfection byproducts from water [168], for gas separation, solvent recovery and catalyst support [169]. These activated carbon nanofibers have low pressure-drop compared to granular activated carbon.…”

Antibacterial activity of combination of synthetic and biopolymer non-woven structures

“…Furthermore, due to their biocompatible nature, and biodegradable and environment-friendly properties, the biopolymers such as collagen, gelatin, albumin, chitosan and starch are all good candidates for a diverse variety of applications. The biopolymer, chitosan, is either used for making chitosan film or blended with other biocompatible polymers as an antimicrobial material [20][21][22][23][24][25]. Additionally, chitosan has wide applications in tissue engineering, for making cell growing scaffolds, in wound dressing [26] and in food industry for making coatings to increase product shelflife and to enhance freshness of food [27].…”

Concept of minimum electrospinning voltage (MEV) in electrospinning of PAN–DMF system: effect of distance

“…An increase in needle to collector distance decreased the electrostatic force acting on the fibers, thus tending to increase the diameter. However, a higher time to stretch allows the fiber to attain smaller diameter (Liu & Adanur, 2010). The effect of distance has been studied from a different viewpoint by Fang, where it was reported that the fiber stretching that took place in the electrospinning zone was unevenly distributed.…”