Effects of the molecular structure from pitch fractions on the properties of pitch-based electrospun nanofibers |
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| Authors: | Yong Qi Xiaxiang Zhang Jianxiao Yang Kui Shi Jun Li Shu Zhang |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Hunan Province Key Laboratory for Advanced Carbon Materials and Applied Technology, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, China;2. School of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, China;3. Lab of Biomass Energy and Functional Carbon Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China |
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| Abstract: | Mesophase pitch was separated into different pitch fractions to investigate the effect of pitch fractions on the properties of their nanofibers prepared by electrospinning. The evolution of different pitch fractions-derived nanofibers during stabilization and carbonization were explored, and the properties of the resultant carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as electrode materials for supercapacitor were compared. Results indicated that the hexane insoluble-toluene soluble (HI-TS) and toluene insoluble-tetrahydrofuran (THF) soluble (TI-THFS) fractions had good spinnability due to their narrow molecular weight distribution. Moreover, compared with HI-TS and THF insoluble (THFI), TI-THFS consisted of appropriate aromaticity and branched alkyl groups which promoted the stabilization and carbonization behaviors of its nanofibers, resulting in maintaining ideal fiber morphology of TI-THFS-derived nanofiber due to the mitigation of their exothermic reactions. Meanwhile, the TI-THFS-derived CNFs presented the highest surface area of 543 m2 g−1 and exhibited an excellent specific capacitance of 167 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 in 6 M KOH electrolyte. |
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| Keywords: | electrochemistry electrospinning fibers morphology porous materials |
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