Effect of solution concentration and applied voltage on electrospun polyacrylonitrile fibers

Abstract Electrospinning is a simple and convenient method for fabrication of polymeric nanofibers from polymeric solution. In this paper, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers are fabricated from different PAN solution concentration and applied voltages by electrospinning process. The fibers were then analyzed with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and four-point probe to study the effect of PAN solution concentration and applied voltage on electrospun PAN fibers in terms of fiber diameters and morphologies, crystallinity and electrical properties. SEM showed that the electrospun PAN fibers with fiber diameter ranging from 0.5 to 2.7 µm. The diameter of fibers were increased with increasing PAN concentration and voltage applied. The increasing voltage also has increased the bead formation on the fibers. The amorphous structure of electrospun PAN fibers was exhibited by XRD. Electrical conductivity of electrospun PAN fibers were increased with increasing PAN concentration but somehow reduced with increasing voltage of the electrospinning.