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Porous carbon nanofiber mats from electrospun polyacrylonitrile/polymethylmethacrylate composite nanofibers for supercapacitor electrode materials

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Abstract

The porous carbon nanofiber mats were prepared by carbonization of electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) composite nanofibers and used as electrode materials for supercapacitor. The surface morphology and pore feature of the porous carbon nanofiber mats were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis. Cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiogram methods were used to study the electrochemical properties of the porous carbon nanofiber mats as electrode materials for supercapacitor. Results showed that the porous carbon nanofiber mats had a good capacitance performance. The specific capacitance of the porous carbon nanofiber mats prepared at PAN/PMMA = 7:3 was 140.8 F g−1. At a current density of 10 A g−1, the specific capacitance of the porous carbon nanofiber mats prepared at PAN/PMMA = 7:3 only decreased by 4.6% after 10000 charge/discharge cycles. Therefore, the porous carbon nanofiber mats prepared at PAN/PMMA = 7:3 would be excellent electrode materials for use in supercapacitors.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (21765009, 21565019 and 51563020), Department of Education Project of Jiangxi Province (GJJ151265), Engineering and Technology Research Center for Environmental Protection Materials and Equipment of Jiangxi Province (jxhbclyzb011), Graduate Innovation Fund of Jiangxi Normal University (YJS2017020) and the Open Project Program of Key Laboratory of Functional Small Organic Molecule, Ministry of Education, Jiangxi Normal University (Nos. KLFS-KF-201708, KLFS-KF-201713).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Functional Small Organic Molecule, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Jiangxi Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China

    Guanghua He, Yonghai Song, Shuiliang Chen & Li Wang

  2. Engineering and Technology Research Center for Environmental Protection Materials and Equipment of Jiangxi Province, College of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Pingxiang University, Pingxiang, 337055, China

    Guanghua He

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  1. Guanghua He
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Correspondence to Li Wang.

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He, G., Song, Y., Chen, S. et al. Porous carbon nanofiber mats from electrospun polyacrylonitrile/polymethylmethacrylate composite nanofibers for supercapacitor electrode materials. J Mater Sci 53, 9721–9730 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2277-5

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