(541e) Wet Spinning of Transition Metal Chalcogenide Fibers
AIChE Annual Meeting
2016
2016 AIChE Annual Meeting
Nanomaterials for Applications in Energy and Biology
Nanomaterials for Energy Storage II
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - 1:50pm to 2:10pm
Fibers comprising of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) were fabricated by a facile wet spinning procedure utilizing a coagulation bath of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) for inclusion into flexible supercapacitors. Stable dispersions consisting of MoS2, carbon nanotubes, and surfactant were prepared and characterized by Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM) and x-ray photospectroscopy (XPS). The latter of which indicates the presence of both exfoliated sheets and non-exfoliated nanoplatelets. Morphology of the fibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and electron diffraction spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) indicating that the exterior is principally comprised of MoS2 nanoplatelets coated by carbon, the latter arising from the coagulation process. Meanwhile cross sections of the fiber reveal that the interior is predominantly MoS2. The resultant fibers are durable, evident by the ability to be tied into knots, with mechanical properties similar to carbon nanotube fibers prepared in a similar fashion. Cyclic voltammetry measurements were performed in electrolyte solutions of H2SO4 and Na2SO4 in order to evaluate the ability of the wet spun fibers to serve as anodes in supercapacitor devices. Finally fibers prepared from tungsten disulfide (WS2) were prepared to showcase the universality of this method towards other members in this class of transition metal chalcogenides (TMD).