Carbon nanofibers synthesized from electrospun cellulose

Abstract

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) have several properties that make them attractive for electronic devices, filtration membranes, tissue engineering scaffolds, composites (reinforcement agents), or catalyst carriers. Exploitation of renewable resources such as cellulosic materials can help to supply all these expanding demands. Synthesis of carbon nanofibrous materials with controlled properties by carbonization of electrospun cellulose was performed in the present work. At the first step fine fibers were fabricated by electrospinning of cellulose acetate solution, they were subsequently regenerated to cellulose in various conditions and, finally, carbonized. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that carbonization of electrospun cellulose (EC) at 800 -1000 °C led to the formation of amorphous granular carbon nanofibers with diameters of 20-150 nm, controlled electrical conductivity (3.8 – 17.0 S/cm) and wettability (water contact angle is 55 – 120°). Our analysis shows that the structure and properties of the resulting CNFs are influenced by deacetylation conditions and temperature of carbonization. XRD patterns illustrate different crystallinity indexes (CI) in different cases of deacetylation. Cellulose samples with sufficiently high CI are appropriate precursors for CNF synthesis.