• Carbon letters
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2014

Activated carbon nanofibers (ACNF) were prepared from polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based nanofibers using $CO_2$ activation methods with varying activation process times. The surface and structural characteristics of the ACNF were observed by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, respectively. $N_2$ adsorption isotherm characteristics at 77 K were confirmed by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Dubinin-Radushkevich equations. As experimental results, many holes or cavernous structures were found on the fiber surfaces after the $CO_2$ activation as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy analysis. Specific surface areas and pore volumes of the prepared ACNFs were enhanced within a range of 10 to 30 min of activation times. Performance of the porous PAN-based nanofibers as an electrode for electrical double layer capacitors was evaluated in terms of the activation conditions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.777-781
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• 2008

In this work, silver nanoparticles-containing polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solutions in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) were electrospun to be webs consisting of nanofibers. The inputted voltage and PAN content in the solution were fixed at 15 kV and 10 wt.% in DMF with 10 cm of tip-to-collector distance (TCD). The PAN/Ag nanofiber webs were stabilized by oxidation at 250 ${^{\circ}C}$ for 2 h in air and carbonized at 1000 ${^{\circ}C}$ for 2 h in $N_2$. The resultant diameter distribution and morphologies of the nanofibers were evaluated by scanning electron microscope analysis. The electrochemical behaviors of the nanofiber webs were also observed by cyclic voltammetry tests. It was found that the presence of silver nanoparticles in carbon nanofiber webs led to the increase of specific capacitance and the decrease of fiber diameters.

• Carbon letters
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.210-218
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• 2002

Electrostatic spinnings were performed with the solutions of PAN/DMF to be nanofiber webs. The diameter of the fibers ranged from 200 nm to 1000 nm depending on the PAN concentration and on the applied DC voltage. The nanofibers were oxidatively stabilized and subsequently carbonized up to $1000^{\circ}C$ with carbonization yield of 40%. The bulk electric conductivity of the carbonized web increased form $6.8{\times}10^{-3}S/cm$ to 1.96 S/cm while the carbonizaton temperature increased from $700^{\circ}C$ to $1000^{\circ}C$.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.592-599
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• 2013

In this study, polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based porous carbon nanofibers were prepared from PAN polymer solution by electrospinning and KOH activation with various concentrations, and the characterization of pore structures and carbon dioxide adsorption was investigated. Manufactured PAN-based activated carbon nanofibers tend to decrease diameter and increase surface oxygen functional groups depending on the increasing concentration of KOH solution. In addition, according to the results of nitrogen adsorption for pore properties analysis, it indicated increase of the specific surface area in conformity with increasing concentration of KOH solution. Micropore volume of treated activated carbon nanofibers (ANCF) by 4 M KOH was the largest compared with other samples and mesopore volume of treated ANCF by 8 M KOH was the largest volume, respectively. The concentration of KOH effects textural and surface properties, as represented by BET and XPS, which enhance carbon dioxide adsorption capacity at 0 and $25^{\circ}C$.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.521-528
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• 2005

Electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers were carbonized with or without iron (III) acetylacetonate to induce catalytic graphitization within the range of 900-1,500$^{circ}C$, resulting in ultrafine carbon fibers with a diameter of about 90-300 nm. Their structural properties and morphologies were investigated. The carbon nanofibers (CNF) prepared without a catalyst showed amorphous structures and very low surface areas of 22-31 $m^{2}$/g. The carbonization in the presence of the catalyst produced graphite nanofibers (GNF). The hydrogen storage capacities of these CNF and GNF materials were evaluated through the gravimetric method using magnetic suspension balance (MSB) at room temperature and 100 bar. The CNFs showed hydrogen storage capacities which increased in the range of 0.16-0.50 wt$\%$ with increasing carbonization temperature. The hydrogen storage capacities of the GNFs with low surface areas of 60-253 $m^{2}$/g were 0.14-1.01 wt$\%$. Micropore and mesopore, as calculated using the nitrogen gas adsorption-desorption isotherms, were not the effective pore for hydrogen storage.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.55-59
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• 2012

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers have been widely used due to their unique chemical, electrical, and mechanical properties. Electron beam irradiation has been extensively employed as means of altering properties of polymeric materials. Electron beam irradiation can induce chemical reactions in materials without any catalyst. Electron beam irradiation may be useful in accelerating the thermal compression stabilization of PAN nanofibers. To investigate the irradiation effect on PAN fibers, PAN nanofibers were irradiated by electron beam at 1,000~5,000 kGy. Irradiated and non-irradiated PAN nanofibers were heated at 180 and $220^{\circ}C$ without applying pressure for 15 min. Then 1 metric ton has been applied for 5 min. SEM images have been found that the fiber kept its morphological behavior after the hot pressing up to electron beam irradiated 1,000 kGy. DSC thermograms showed that the peak temperatures of the exothermic reactions were found to decrease with increasing electron beam irradiation doses and temperature. FT-IR spectra have been found to decrease $C{\equiv}N$ stretch band with increasing the electron beam irradiation dose. These results indicate that the modification of PAN via reactions such as cyclization is significantly enhanced by electron beam irradiation and thermal compression technique.

• Carbon letters
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.217-220
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• 2009

In this study, porous electrospun carbon fibers were prepared by electrospinning with PAN and $MgCl_2$, as a MgO precursor. MgO was selected as a substrate because of its chemical and thermal stability, no reaction with carbon, and ease of removal after carbonization by dissolving out in acidic solutions. $MgCl_2$ was mixed with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solution as a precursor of MgO with various weight ratios of $MgCl_2$/PAN. The average diameter of porous electrospun carbon fibers increased from 1.3 to 3 ${\mu}m$, as the $MgCl_2$ to PAN weight ratio increased. During the stabilization step, $MgCl_2$ was hydrolyzed to MgOHCl by heat treatment. At elevated temperature of 823 K for carbonization step, MgOHCl was decomposed to MgO. Specific surface area and pore structure of prepared electrospun carbon fibers were decided by weight ratio of $MgCl_2$/PAN. The amount of hydrogen storage increased with increase of specific surface area and micropore volume of prepared electrospun carbon fibers.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2015.03a
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• pp.304-307
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• 2015

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been widely accepted and used as the enhancer for polymer nano-composites due to their remarkable mechanical properties. Understandably, the CNT fiber-polymer matrix interface plays a major role in determining the properties of the CNT-polymer nano-composites. Here, using the LCAODFT Lab tool available on the EDISON Nano-Physics site, we performed first-principles density-functional theory calculations to determine the atomic configurations and binding energies of the CNTs in contact with polymers. For the polymer matrixes, we chose poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN), which is one of the most well-known polymer matrixes for the carbon nanofiber nanocomposites. Different chiralities and diameters of pristine CNTs were considered, and several PAN-CNT configurations were prepared based on the atomistic positions and directions of cyano group in PAN. The most favorable configuration of PAN was obtained when the PAN bound parallel to the surface of CNT. Our finding indicates the binding configurations are determined by the direction of the cyano group dominantly rather than the atomistic position of PAN, or the symmetry of CNTs. The result of increasing the length of CNT diameter suggests that PAN is inclinable to align evenly on the surface of relatively large size of CNT with the configuration parallel to the surface. These results obtained in this study will provide the starting point for the design of improved PAN-CNT composites for the next-generation ultra-strong and ultra-light carbon nanofibers.

• Carbon letters
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.285-292
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• 2010

Novel unsaturated polyester composites with PAN-based nanofiber, stabilized PAN nanofiber, and carbonized nanofiber webs have been fabricated, respectively, and the effects of the nanofiber web content on their electrical resistivity, the thermal stability, dynamic storage modulus, and fracture surfaces were studied. The result demonstrated that the introduction of just one single layer (which is corresponding to 2 wt.%) of the carbonized nanofiber web to unsaturated polyester resin (UPE) could contribute to reducing markedly the electrical resistivity of the resin reflecting the percolation threshold, to improving the storage modulus, and to increasing the thermal stability above $350^{\circ}C$. The effect on decreasing the resistivity and increasing the modulus was the greatest at the carbonized PAN nanofiber web content of 8 wt.%, particularly showing that the storage modulus was increased about 257~283% in the measuring temperature range of $-25^{\circ}C$ to $50^{\circ}C$. The result also exhibited that the carbonized PAN nanofibers were distributed uniformly and compactly in the unsaturated polyester, connecting the matrix three-dimensionally through the thickness direction of each specimen. It seemed that such the fiber distribution played a role in reducing the electrical resistivity as well as in improving the dynamic storage modulus.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.210-217
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• 2022

Boron(B) is a rare resource used for various purposes such as glass, semiconductor materials, gunpowder, rocket fuel, etc. However, Korea depends entirely on imports for boron. Considering the global boron reserves and its current production rate, boron will be depleted on earth in 50 years. Thus, a process including proper adsorbent materials recovering boron from seawater is demanded. This research proposed carbonized nanofibers prepared from electrospun PAN(polyacrylonitrile) mats as promising materials to adsorb boron in aqueous solution. First, the mechanism of boron adsorption on carbonized nanofibers was investigated by DFT(density functional method)-based molecular modeling and the calculated energetics demonstrated that the boron chemisorption on the nitrogen-doped graphene surface by a two-step dehydration is possible with viable activation energies. Then, the electrospun PAN mats were stabilized in air and then carbonized in an argon atmosphere before being immersed in the boric acid aqueous solution. Analytically, SEM(scanning electron microscopy) and Raman measurements were employed to confirm whether the electrospinning and carbonization of PAN mats proceeded successfully. Then, XPS(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) peak analysis showed whether the intended nitrogen-doped carbon nanofiber surface was formed and boron was properly adsorbed on nanofibers. Those results demonstrated that the carbonized nanofibers prepared from electrospun PAN mats could be feasible adsorbents for boron recovery in seawater.