Carbon Nanofibers Production via the Electrospinning Process

Radu Dorin Andrei, Adriana Marinoiu, Elena Marin, Stanica Enache and Elena Carcadea
Additional contact information
Radu Dorin Andrei: National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies—ICSI Rm. Valcea, Uzinei Street no. 4, 240050 Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania
Adriana Marinoiu: National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies—ICSI Rm. Valcea, Uzinei Street no. 4, 240050 Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania
Elena Marin: National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies—ICSI Rm. Valcea, Uzinei Street no. 4, 240050 Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania
Stanica Enache: National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies—ICSI Rm. Valcea, Uzinei Street no. 4, 240050 Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania
Elena Carcadea: National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies—ICSI Rm. Valcea, Uzinei Street no. 4, 240050 Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: Electrospun fibers with different concentrations of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) were synthesized and the results are reported in this study. The aim was to obtain carbon nanofibers for manufacturing gas diffusion layers for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The electrospun fibers obtained were carbonized at 1200 °C, 1300 °C, and 1400 °C, in order to have nanofibers with more than 96% of carbon atoms. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results revealed an increase in the diameter from 400–700 nm at 1200 °C to 1000–1400 nm at 1300 °C and 1400 °C. The Raman measurements disclose a higher degree of crystallinity for the sample carbonized at elevated temperatures. The surface area was estimated from the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method and the results revealed an increase from 40.69 m 2 g −1 to 66.89 m 2 g −1 and 89.92 m 2 g −1 as the carbonization temperature increased. Simultaneously, the pore volume increased with increasing carbonization temperature. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra reveal that during carbonization treatment, C≡N triple bonds are destroyed with the appearance of C=N double bonds. Decreasing the I D /I G intensities’ ratio from ~1.07 to ~1.00 denotes the defects reduction in carbonaceous materials due to the graphitization process. Therefore, the carbon fibers developed in optimum conditions are appropriate to be further used to produce gas diffusion layers for Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC).

Keywords: polyacrylonitrile; polymer solution; carbon nanofibers; electrospinning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/3029/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/3029/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:11:p:3029-:d:370416

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().