(340b) Electrospun Nanocarbon Fibers for the Chromium Removal in Water
AIChE Annual Meeting
2016
2016 AIChE Annual Meeting
Materials Engineering and Sciences Division
Composites for Environmental Applications
Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 12:48pm to 1:06pm
Uniform electrospun polyacrylonitrile / iron (III) nitrate nanofibers with small diameters were successfully prepared by systematically optimizing the electrospinning parameters including polymer concentration, salt loading, applied voltage, tip to collector distance, and flow rate. These parameters are shown to affect the fiber morphology and the addition of iron (III) nitrate salt was found to be able to reduce the fiber size and required electrospinning voltage. The improved thermal properties of the composite fibers were investigated and shown by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The composite nanofibers were further carbonized to carbon nanofibers. Applications of the nanofibers for chromium removal have shown promise.