Atomic force microscopy characterization of carbon Nanofibers

S. H. Aboutalebi*

hamed.aboutalebi@gmail.com

Z.Gholamvand

zahra-_gholamvand@yahoo.com

A. M. Bazargan

ambazargan@gmail.com

M. Keyanpour-Rad

Materials and Energy Research Center, P.O. Box 14155-4777, Tehran, Iran

*Corresponding author: Seyed Hamed Aboutalebi

Presenting author: Seyed Hamed Aboutalebi

Abstract

Owning to their unique mechanical properties, Carbon nanofibers have recently been receiving increasing attention. This is due to their potential applications as composite reinforcements, high-temperature catalysis, membrane-based separation, and as components for nanoelectronics and photonics. In the present work, electrospinning was conducted to obtain Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers as the precursor of carbon nanofibers. The objective of the present study is to characterize carbon nanofibers obtained from heat-treatment of electrospun polymer fibers and to investigate the structure and morphology of obtained carbon nanofibers using Atomic force microscopy (AFM). The average fiber diameter of the electrospun fibers was determined using Image J software, from the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images. To complement the results observed by SEM, AFM characterization of the electrospun fibers was carried out. The temperature of exothermic reaction and weight loss of electrospun PAN fibers was determined by the use of Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA) at a heating rate of 5 °C in Nitrogen atmosphere. To further characterize the carbonization process during different heat-treatment stages, X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was utilized. The obtained results were then compared with conventional carbon fibers.