Study on microstructural properties of PAN/MnO2 nanofibers via electrospinning method

Abstract

This paper reported the production of precursor PAN/MnO2 nanofibers via electrospinning method and studying its microstructural properties. The nanofibers were prepared by electrospun the polymer solution of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and Manganese Oxide (MnO2) in, N, N-Dimethylformamide as its solvent. The factors considered in this study were polymer PAN/ MnO2 concentration which will significantly affect the specific surface area, nanofibers morphology, micropore volume and diameter of the nanofibers. The nanofibers were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Brunauer Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area, and Fourier Transmission Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The addition of MnO2 in polymer solution increased the specific surface area of the nanofibers up to 3.5 wt % which found to be its optimum loading. In conclusion, the precursor PAN/ MnO2 -based ACNF were successfully produced with the optimization of metal oxide loading resulting to nanofibers with higher specific surface area which will further increased its adsorption performance.