Influence of pre-oxidation on mechanical properties of single electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofiber

Abstract High performance oxidized polyacrylonitrile (oPAN) nanofibers are highly required for the fabrication of high-performance carbon nanofibers. In this work, single electrospun oPAN nanofibers with different oxidation temperatures were prepared by copolymerization, electrospinning and pre-oxidation. The effect of pre-oxidation temperature on the evolution of chemical structure and mechanical properties were comprehensively investigated by FT-IR, Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and micro-tensile tests. The results indicated that 210 °C was the optimal the pre-oxidation temperature, at which a cyclization degree of 96 % could be achieved. At this temperature, the single oPAN210 electrospun nanofiber showed the best mechanical properties tensile strength, modulus, and toughness of 1690 MPa, 52.3 GPa, and 260 J/g, respectively. This study would guide for the fabrication of high performance electrospun oPAN nanofibers and further the preparation of high-performance electrospun carbon nanofibers.