Electrospun graphene oxide incorporated PAN nanofibers, before and after activation

Abstract

This article reports the electrospinning of graphene oxide (GO) incorporated poly acrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers and then, the properties of the nanofibers are investigated before and after activation. GO nanoparticles were synthesized according to Hummer’s method. DLS analysis showed an average size of around 128 nm for the sphere shaped GO nanoparticles. To electrospin GO nanoparticle incorporated PAN nanofibers, suspensions of PAN solution containing different amount of GO nanoparticles were prepared and homogenized by probe and bath sonication. Probe sonication yielded thinner and more regular electrospun nanofibers. In the next stage the electrospun nanofibers were activated. Observations showed that only one of the GO incorporated activated samples could keep the original fibrous form and the other samples turned into a network or nearly a film. XRD patterns showed no considerable change in the microstructure of activated carbon nanofibers as a result of incorporating GO nanoparticles. FTIR analysis as well as Raman analysis proved the conversion of GO in graphene during the activation process. The findings of this research could be of value in electrochemical sensor applications.