Improved electrical conductivity of carbon/polyvinyl alcohol electrospun nanofibers

Abstract

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) gained much interest in the last few years due to their promising electrical, chemical, and mechanical characteristics. This paper investigates a new nanocomposite composed of carbon nanofibers hosted by PVA and both are integrated in one electrospun nanofibers web. This technique shows a simple and cheap way to offer a host for CNFs using traditional deposition techniques. The results show that electrical conductivity of the formed nanofibers has been improved up to 1.63 × 10-4 S/cm for CNFs of weight 2%. The peak temperature of mass loss through TGA measurements has been reduced by 2.3%. SEM images show the homogeneity of the formed PVA and carbon nanofibers in one web, with stretched CNFs after the electrospinning process. The formed nanocomposite can be used in wide variety of applications including nanoelectronics and gas adsorption.