PAN Nanofibers Reinforced with MMTGO Hybrid Nanofillers

Abstract EN

Single component nanofiller has shown some limitations in its performance, which can be overcome by hybrid nanofillers with two different components.

In this work, montmorillonite (MMT)/graphene oxide (GO) hybrid nanofillers were formed by self-assembly and then incorporated into the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers by electrospinning process.

X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to analyze the structures of MMT/GO hybrid nanofillers.

And the effects of MMT/GO hybrid nanofillers on the morphology, thermal stability, and mechanical properties of PAN/MMT/GO composite nanofibrous membrane were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and tensile test machine, respectively.

The incorporation of MMT/GO hybrid nanofillers into PAN nanofibers showed a noticeable increase up to 30°C for the onset decomposition temperature and 1.32 times larger tensile strength than the pure PAN, indicating that the hybrid nanofiller is a promising candidate in improving thermal and mechanical properties of polymers.