Abstract
This paper aimed to study the influence of zirconium phosphate (ZrP) nanoparticles on reducing the diameter of nanofibres during electrospinning. Addition of metal oxide such as zirconium phosphate decreases the diameter and smooths on the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibres as observed by the SEM techniques. Furthermore, this work investigated the effect of zirconium phosphate on the morphology and conductivity of modified PAN nanofibres under SEM, XRD and electrochemical cells. The PAN/zirconium phosphate nanofibres were obtained with the diameter ranges between 100 and 200 nm, which mean that the nanofibres morphology significantly changed with the addition of the zirconium phosphate nanoparticles. The conductivity of PAN and PAN-Nafion zirconium phosphate nanofibres was more improved when compared to that of the plain PAN nanofibres as observed under electrochemical measurements. The plain PAN nanofibres show the total degradation on thermal gravimetric analysis results when compared to the modified PAN with zirconium phosphate nanoparticles. The thermal properties and proton conductivity make the PAN/ZrP nanofibres as promising nanofillers for fuel cell electrolytes.
Highlights
Polymer nanofibres are prepared by electrospinning a polymer solution, with a high-voltage electric field applied to a polymer solution ejected from a metal syringe needle
We study the effect of zirconium phosphate (ZrP) nanofillers on the improvement of the morphology and conductivity of blended Nafion®-PAN nanofibres compared with pure PAN nanofibres, which can be fabricated by electrospinning into nanofibre mats
The Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that the electrospun PAN-Nafion nanofibres modified by ZrP nanoparticles obtained a reduced diameter and roughness without the formation of beads
Summary
Polymer nanofibres are prepared by electrospinning a polymer solution, with a high-voltage electric field applied to a polymer solution ejected from a metal syringe needle. PAN has been studied as a separator material, and PAN-based separators show promising properties, including high ionic conductivity, good thermal stability, high electrolyte uptake and good compatibility, with lithium metal (Gopalan et al 2008). Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) has several properties that make it a useful material These properties include high density, hardness, electrical conductivity, wear resistance, high fracture toughness, low thermal conductivity and relatively high dielectric constant. The use of a totally stabilised zirconia in fuel-cell technology obtains a good ionic conductivity of cubic zirconia at medium and high temperatures (Jones and Rozière 2001). The reduced methanol permeability of the polymer membrane, while maintaining a high power density, is obtained by impregnating it with zirconium phosphate (Jones and Rozière 2001; Carriere et al 2003). We study the effect of ZrP nanofillers on the improvement of the morphology and conductivity of blended Nafion®-PAN nanofibres compared with pure PAN nanofibres, which can be fabricated by electrospinning into nanofibre mats
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