Optimizing the Stabilization Temperature of Electrospun PAN Fibers Used for Synthesis of Carbon Nanofibers

Electrospinning, stabilization and carbonization are three steps of synthesizing electrospun carbon nanofibers (CNF), using polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor. In this study, the effect of the stabilization temperature was studied on the morphology and chemical state of the electrospun PAN fibers, which were later carbonized to produce carbon nanofibers. the stabilization was carried out on electrospun PAN fibers, at different temperatures of 230 °C, 240 °C, 250 °C and 280 °C for 2h with a heating rate of 2 °C/min. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to inspect the progress of stabilization reactions. The crystallinity and composition was studied by X ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the morphology of the fibers. The results showed that 230 oC is the best stabilization temperature in which not only all expected reactions take place but also the fibrous morphology is preserved. Higher temperatures led to destruction of the fibrous morphology.