A universal approach for producing lignin-based monocomponent fiber by one-step ethanol fractionation

To achieve sustainable whole process of carbon-fiber production and high-value utilization of lignin, one-step ethanol fractionation followed by coaxial electrospinning was applied to produce lignin-based monocomponent carbon-fiber. To elucidate the mechanism, hydrothermal extracted poplar lignin (HPL) were obtained to be divide into two parts through ethanol fractionation, in which the ethanol-soluble lignin (ESL) was eletrcospun into fiber precursors. Then, to verify the universality of this method, four more lignin were extracted to produce fiber precursors, after which five kinds of carbon fibers were prepared by carbonization of the corresponding precursors. Structural analysis showed that ESL of HPL is a small and highly branched three-dimensional stereomolecules. Combined with the SEM results of fiber precursors, the mechanism which hydrogen bonding promotes fiber formation was elucidated. Among all five samples, carbon-fiber prepared from HPL possesses the minimum fiber diameter of 557 nm, the smallest interplanar spacing of 0.3909 nm, ID/IG value of 0.6345 and the largest specific surface area of 408.15 m2/g. This work proposes a universal method to prepare lignin-based monocomponent carbon-fiber, in which carbon-fibers prepared from HPL exhibits the best comprehensive performance and can be applied to capture radioactive iodine.