Pyrolysis temperature and time dependence of electrical conductivity evolution for electrostatically generated carbon nanofibers

Carbon nanofibers were produced from polyacrylonitrile/N, N-Dimethyl Formamide (PAN/DMF) precursor solution using electrospinning and vacuum pyrolysis at temperatures from 773-1273 K for 0.5, 2, and 5 h, respectively. Their conductance was determined from I-V curves. The length and cross-section area of the nanofibers were evaluated using optical microscope and scanning probe microscopes, respectively, and were used for their electrical conductivity calculation. It was found that the conductivity increases sharply with the pyrolysis temperature, and increases considerably with pyrolysis time at the lower pyrolysis temperatures of 873, 973, and 1073 K, but varies, less obviously, with pyrolysis time at the higher pyrolysis temperatures of 1173 and 1273 K. This dependence was attributed to the thermally activated transformation of disordered to graphitic carbon.