Preparation and characterization of polyacrylonitrile-based activated carbon nanofibers/graphene (gacnfs) composite synthesized by electrospinning

• Main Authors: Othman, F. E. C., Yusof, N., Ismail, A. F., Jaafar, J., Salleh, W. N. W., Aziz, F.
• Format: Article
• Published: Amer Inst Physics 2020
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/87087/; http://www.dx.doi.org/ 10.1063/5.0008012

In this work, activated carbon nanofibers (ACNFs) and graphene-derived rice husk (GRH)/ACNF composites (gACNFs) were straightforwardly fabricated through a simple electrospinning process and were consequently activated by using a physical method. The morphological, structural, and textural properties of the resultant ACNFs and (GRH)/ACNFs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectra, thermal gravimetric analysis, and a N2 adsorption isotherm. From the results obtained, gACNFs exhibit better thermal stability properties than pristine ACNFs with improved carbon yield (up to 60%) as well as enhanced adsorption capacity (220 cm3/g). The results including a high specific surface area (592 m2/g) and availability of 80% micropore volumes have demonstrated that gACNFs exhibited double gas adsorption performance as compared to pristine ACNFs.