Highly controlled integration of graphene oxide into PAN nanofiber membranes

Abstract

A highly improved strategy is established in order to systematically integrate excess exfoliated graphene oxide (GO) as fillers into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers via electrospinning. Simple modification of GO surface allowed for their loading efficiency into the nanofibers to surpass the typical limits. Among many features, the hydrophilic and mechanical properties of these membranes were found to be significantly increased compared to the original PAN and bare GO-loaded membranes probably due to the effective reinforcing filler effect caused by the even distribution of the modified GO within the PAN nanofibers. Thus, the simple surface modification of fillers can facilitate the capability of controlling the loading efficiency into electrospun nanofibers which can highly impact the quality and performance of final composite membranes.