Fabrication of highly porous conducting PANI-C composite fiber mats via electrospinning

摘要

Highly porous (～70%) polyaniline-carbon black composite nanofiber mats with good conductivity were fabricated via electrospinning. The fiber mat was electrospun using polyvinyl alcohol as carrier solution which was later decomposed at ～230 ℃ to get a complete conducting nanofiber network. This heat treatment reduced the fiber diameter from ～250 nm to ～170 nm and the porosity of the fiber mat increased from -41% to 70%. The removal of the carrier phase was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and did not result into any structural collapse. The localized conductance measurements using scanning electrochemical microscopy showed that the removal of insulating carrier solution substantially reduced the percolation threshold and increased the fiber-mat conductance.