Synthesis of special acrylic nanofibers as an appropriate precursor for conductive carbon nanofibers

Electrospinning technique is a significant approach used for producing special acrylic nanofibers (SANFs) through applying electrostatic field. SANFs were electrospun from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) copolymer solutions to be used as a precursor for carbon nanofibers (CNFs). The Box–Benkhen design (BBD) was used to elucidate the effects of the acrylic concentration (wt%), electrospinning voltage (kV), and spinning distance (cm) on the SANFs surface morphology and optimize these parameters. Based on BBD model the optimum SANFs diameter of 292 nm and 14.20% coefficient of variation, were collected at 9.3 wt% PAN concentration, 14 kV applied voltage, and 20 cm spinning distance. The optimized SANFs manufactured under BBD settings were specified by scanning electron microscope (SEM), mechanical tester, and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The optimized SANFs was stabilized in air and then carbonized in inert atmosphere at 800, 1000, and 1200 °C, respectively. The electrical conductivity of CNFs samples obtained from SANFs at 800 °C carbonization temperature is 2.31 × 10⁻² S/cm, which is increased to 2.60 × 10⁺¹ S/cm at 1200 °C. The results indicated that, the optimized SANFs possessed the most desired morphological properties, mechanical characteristics, and thermal stability; and thus they are appropriate for the development of high-performance CNFs.