Effect of pre-oxidation temperature and heating rate on the microstructure of lignin carbon fibers

Lignin is a biopolymer with high carbon content, making lignin-based carbon fiber an important research direction. In the process of carbonization to prepare carbon fibers, lignin fibers are easily softened and fused, which destroys the microstructure of fibers, thereby reducing the quality of lignin-based carbon fibers. Therefore, it is non-negligible to pre-oxidize lignin fibers before carbonization to prevent fiber fusion and maintain fiber structure. Therefore, the effects of pre-oxidation temperature and heating rate on the structure of pre-oxidation lignin fibers with controllable diameter and thickness prepared by melt-blowing were studied in detail. During pre-oxidation, crosslinking and aromatization of lignin fibers occurred, and alkyl and benzene rings were mainly oxidized to form carbonyl groups. The aromatization degree of the pre-oxidized product was recorded at 280 °C and 0.25 °C/min, and the oxygen content reached 15 %–20 %, making it suitable for the preparation of bio-based carbon fibers. On this basis, carbon fibers with porous morphology can be prepared with a graphitization of 0.54 and a resistivity of 0.02 Ω cm−1. These materials are expected to be applicable in sensors, catalytic materials and other fields.