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Abstract: Carbon nanofibers (CNF) produced from pyrolysis of electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor has received a great amount of attention due to their promising potentials. However, there are limited studies on the electrical properties of the CNF, especially at high‐frequency range. In this study, CNF from PAN precursor were produced by electrospinning technique. Characterizations of the nanofibers were carried out in terms of physical, dielectric, and chemical properties. The stabilization of nanofibers took place at 240°C whilst carbonization process took place at temperatures of 800°C, 1000°C, and 1200°C, respectively. In terms of physical properties, the color of the nanofiber webs changed from white to brown and black, after stabilization and carbonization process accompanied by significant reduction in average fiber diameter. Dielectric analysis of the nanofibers was obtained by measuring the wave propagation characteristics at frequency range of 1 GHz to 10 GHz. Higher dielectric constants of the material were observed for fibers processed at higher carbonization temperatures. Good conductivity was also observed with loss tangent value that is higher than 1. The results were correlated with FTIR transmittance results, indicating greater amount of carbon are present in the nanofiber material. From the findings, the unique behavior of the nanofibers makes it practically potential for sensor applications. Explorations of future research in this area are to be sought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon concrete polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/lignin-based carbon fiber (CF) composites are a new promising material class for the building industry. The replacement of the traditional heavy and corroding steel reinforcement by carbon fiber (CF)-based reinforcements offers many significant advantages: a higher protection of environmental resources because of lower CO2 consumption during cement production, a longer lifecycle and thus, much less damage to structural components and a higher degree of design freedom because lightweight solutions can be realized. However, due to cost pressure in civil engineering, completely new process chains are required to manufacture CF-based reinforcement structures for concrete. This article describes the necessary process steps in order to develop CF reinforcement: (1) the production of cost-effective CF using novel carbon fiber lines, and (2) the fabrication of CF rebars with different geometry profiles. It was found that PAN/lignin-based CF is currently the promising material with the most promise to meet future market demands. However, significant research needs to be undertaken in order to improve the properties of lignin-based and PAN/lignin-based CF, respectively. The CF can be manufactured to CF-based rebars using different manufacturing technologies which are developed at a prototype level in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensile and compressive properties of interlayer and intralayer hybrid composites were investigated in this paper. The tensile modulus and compression modulus of interlayer and intralayer hybrid composites are the same under the same mixed ratio, the tensile strength is much superior to the compression strength, and while the tensile modulus and strength increase along with the carbon fiber content, the compression values change slightly. The influence of stacking structures on the tensile and compressive strengths is opposite to the ratio of T/C (tensile/compression) strength for interlayer hybrid composites, and while the tensile and compression strengths with glass fiber sandwiching carbon fiber can reach the maximum value, the ratio of T/C strength is minimum. For structures with carbon fiber sandwiching glass fiber, or with asymmetric structures, the tensile and compressive strengths are at a low value. For intralayer hybrid structures, while the carbon/glass (C/G) dispersion degree is high, the tensile and compression strengths are low. The experimental tensile and compressive strengths for interlayer and intralayer hybrid composites are greater than the theoretical values, which demonstrates that strength conforms well to the positive hybrid effect. The tensile fracture strain is greater than the compression fracture strain for hybrid composites, with both of them basically maintained at the same level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocatalytic and capacitive properties of pyrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibres synthesized by electrospinning are studied. It is shown that PAN pyrolysis at 900°C allows synthesizing of pyropolymers with the intrinsic catalytic activity in acidic media and high capacitive characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have proposed a novel free-standing nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres@carbon nanofibers (NCNSs@CNFs) composite film with high processability for the investigation of the direct electron transfer (DET) of glucose oxidase (GOx) and the DET-based glucose biosensing. The composites were simply prepared by controlled thermal treatment of electrospun polypyrrole nanospheres doped polyacrylonitrile nanofibers (PPyNSs@PAN NFs). Without any pretreatment, the as-prepared material can directly serve as a platform for GOx immobilization. The cyclic voltammetry of immobilized GOx showed a pair of well-defined redox peaks in O2-free solution, indicating the DET of GOx. With the addition of glucose, the anodic peak current increased, while the cathodic peak current decreased, which demonstrated the DET-based bioelectrocatalysis. The detection of glucose based on the DET of GOx was achieved, which displayed high sensitivity, stability and selectivity, with a low detection limit of 2 μM and wide linear range of 12-1000 μM. These results demonstrate that the as-obtained NCNSs@CNFs can serve as an ideal platform for the construction of the third-generation glucose biosensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber bundles, with two sides fixed, were heated in a graphitization furnace with temperature profiles similar to those used in the preparation of carbon/carbon composites. The microstructure of the microvoids formed was characterized by small-angle X-ray scattering and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Results showed that the average radius of gyration of the microvoids decreases, and their length, width, cross-sectional area and volume fraction decrease followed by a slight increase with increasing temperature, with the minima found at around 2300°C. The HR-TEM images showed that the microvoids were formed by stacking defects of the carbon layers. The ordering of the amorphous carbon layers accounted for the initial decrease of size and volume fraction of the voids with increasing temperature, while the growth and ordering of the layers at high temperatures gave rise to increases in their size and volume fraction. [New Carbon Materials 2013, 29(1): 41–46] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]