Preparation of hollow carbon submicro-fibers with controllable wall thicknesses from acrylonitrile copolymer. Issue 16 (August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ju, Anqi; Hou, Shengfei; Pan, Yuexiu; Wang, Yue; Zhu, Yanan; Chen, Huifang
• Is Part Of: Textile research journal. Volume 88:Issue 16(2018)
• Page Start: 1893
• Page End: 1901
• Publication Date: 2018-08
• Subjects: PAN -- stabilization -- hollow carbon submicro-fiber -- differential scanning calorimetry -- scanning electron microscopy; Textile industry -- Periodicals; Textile fabrics -- Periodicals; Textile research -- Periodicals; Textiles et tissus -- Industrie et commerce -- Périodiques; Textiles et tissus -- Périodiques; Textiles et tissus -- Recherche -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 677.005
• DOI: 10.1177/0040517517712100
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0040-5175

Abstract

Most of the hollow carbon submicro-fibers (HCSFs) reported today are made from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) homopolymer. The obtained HCSFs are fragile due to the poor stabilization and spinnability of PAN. In this study, a bifunctional comonomer, β -methylhydrogen itaconate (MHI), was synthesized to prepare poly(acrylonitrile- co-β -methylhydrogen itaconate) [P(AN- co -MHI)] copolymer, which was used as a precursor to produce HCSF by coaxial electrospinning. The stabilization of P(AN- co -MHI) was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); the structure of HCSFs was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The stabilization of P(AN- co -MHI) has been improved significantly by MHI with lower cyclization temperature, broadened peak and lower activation energy, which is beneficial to producing high-performance HCSFs. HCSFs with fine and uniform structures were obtained after stabilization and carbonization; the diameter of the HCSFs shrinks due to the elimination of N and the extra H. The diameter and wall thickness of HCSFs can be controlled simply by the feeding ratio of P(AN- co -MHI) solution/styrene- co -acrylonitrile solution. The resultant HCSFs can be bent more than 280° without breaking, which has potential applications in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells, and catalyst.