Fabrication of conductive Lignin/PAN carbon nanofibers with enhanced graphene for the modified electrodes

A screen-printed electrode-based electrochemical sensor modified with graphene reinforced nanofibers for the determination of acetaminophen was fabricated by electrospinning, thermal stabilization, and carbonization. Abundant and inexpensive biopolymer lignin was blended with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and graphene (GRP) to obtain the deformity-free and an average diameter 105 nm nanofibers (Lignin/PAN/GRP:85/15/1 wt %). The electrospinning process of nanofibers is optimized by the Design of Experiments statistical programme and rheometry were performed. When carbonized at 900 °C, Lignin/PAN/GRP carbon nanofiber presents carbon content of these carbon nanofibers amounts to 94.3% measured by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and we statement the transformation of carbon nanofibers with average diameter less than 100 nm and the graphene sheets improved the degree of graphitization of carbon nanofibers. In this work, the electrochemical characterization of carbon nanofiber (CNF) and graphene reinforced carbon nanofiber (CNF-G) modification onto the screen-printed electrode (SPE) has been verified via Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), and the electrochemical response of acetaminophen of modified electrode was detected by Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV). The results revealed that the modified electrodes showed a marked electrochemical activity with a remarkable improvement in conductivity and in response to acetaminophen compared to the bare electrode.