Abstract
In this work, activated carbon nanofibers (ACNFs) and graphene-derived rice husk (GRH)/ACNF composites (gACNFs) were straightforwardly fabricated through a simple electrospinning process and were consequently activated by using a physical method. The morphological, structural, and textural properties of the resultant ACNFs and (GRH)/ACNFs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectra, thermal gravimetric analysis, and a N2 adsorption isotherm. From the results obtained, gACNFs exhibit better thermal stability properties than pristine ACNFs with improved carbon yield (up to 60%) as well as enhanced adsorption capacity (220 cm3/g). The results including a high specific surface area (592 m2/g) and availability of 80% micropore volumes have demonstrated that gACNFs exhibited double gas adsorption performance as compared to pristine ACNFs.
Highlights
Activated carbon nanofibers (ACNFs) were first reported by Lee and co-workers1 with a uniform diameter in a nanometer range fibrous structure made from polymer polyacrylonitrile (PAN)
In pristine activated carbon nanofibers (ACNFs), it can be obviously seen that the D-band is much higher than the G-band, which means the defects are dominating the structure of the ACNFs
It can be seen that there is a 2D-band at 2690 cm−1 appearing in gACNFs, and this is due to the presence of graphene-derived rice husk (GRH) in the structure of gACNFs
Summary
Activated carbon nanofibers (ACNFs) were first reported by Lee and co-workers with a uniform diameter in a nanometer range fibrous structure made from polymer polyacrylonitrile (PAN). ACNFs have a high aspect ratio and a high specific surface area (SSA), and they are chemically, mechanically, and thermally stable. These unique structures and shapes offered by ACNFs have stimulated fundamental studies for lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors and various applications in gas adsorption, transportation, and storage. Since the first discovery of carbon nanofiber (CNF) materials in the early 1950s by Radushkevich and Lukyanovich, various research groups have reported the synthesis method of ACNFs as well as performed characterization analyses in order to study their remarkable structures by electron microscopy, Raman, and x-ray diffraction. PAN was chosen as the polymer precursor due to its high thermal stability, which is more than 50%,8 as compared to other commercial carbon precursors, to produce high performance carbon fibers
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