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High Strength Electrospun Single Copolyacrylonitrile (coPAN) Nanofibers with Improved Molecular Orientation by Drawing

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Abstract

High-performance carbon nanofibers are highly dependent on the performance of their precursors, especially polyacrylonitrile (PAN). In this work, the copolymer of PAN (coPAN) was synthesized for electrospinning. A self-assembling set-up was used for the stretching of single coPAN nanofibers. FTIR and Raman spectroscopies were used to characterize the chemical structure of coPAN nanofibers. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to monitor the morphology of single coPAN nanofibers under different drawing times. Micro-tensile test was used to determine the mechanical properties of single coPAN nanofibers. The results indicated that the drawing led to an increase in degree of molecular orientation along the fiber axis from 0.656 to 0.808, tensile strength from 304 MPa to 595 MPa, and modulus from 3.1 GPa to 12.4 GPa. This research would provide fundamental information of high-performance electrospun coPAN nanofibers and offer opportunities for the preparation of high-performance carbon nanofibers.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21774053, 21975111, and 51903123), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20190760), Major Special Projects of Jiangxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology (No. 20114ABF05100), and Technology Plan Landing Project of Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education (No. GCJ2011-24).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China

    Tang-Cheng Xu, Dong-Hua Han, Yong-Mei Zhu & Hao-Qing Hou

  2. Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Gai-Gai Duan

  3. School of Metallurgical and Chemical Engineering, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, 341000, China

    Kun-Ming Liu

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  1. Tang-Cheng Xu
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  4. Gai-Gai Duan
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Correspondence to Gai-Gai Duan or Hao-Qing Hou.

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Xu, TC., Han, DH., Zhu, YM. et al. High Strength Electrospun Single Copolyacrylonitrile (coPAN) Nanofibers with Improved Molecular Orientation by Drawing. Chin J Polym Sci 39, 174–180 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-021-2516-0

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