Study on the electrospun CNTs/polyacrylonitrile-based nanofiber composites

Abstract

CNTs/PAN nanofibers were electrospun from PAN-based solution for the preparation of carbon nanofiber composites. The as-spun polyacrylonitrile-based nanofibers were hot-stretched by weighing metal in a temperature controlled oven. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the morphology of the nanofibers, which indicated that carbon nanotubes were dispersed well in the composites and were completely wrapped by PAN matrix. Because of the strong interfacial interaction between CNTs and PAN, the CNTs/PAN application performance will be enhanced correspondingly, such as the mechanical properties and the electrical conductivity. It was concluded that the hot-stretched CNTs/PAN nanofibers can be used as a potential precursor to produce high-performance carbon composites. Copyright © 2011 Bo Qiao et al.