Study on Biomass Based Nanofibers Preparation by Electrospinning

The electrospinnability of lignin was improved by blending in a solution of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) resulting in the reduction of the nanofiber cost. The compositions containing low concentration of the lignin shows good spinnability. The influences of main process parameters, such as flow rate, voltage and concentration on the nanofibers morphology were studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results indicated that by changing parameters, nanofibers with good morphology were obtained. According to the study, when other parameters were kept unchanged, the parameters to prepare ideal nanofibers are as follows: flow rate is 0.04 mm/h; the voltage is 25 kV and the lignin amount is 2 wt.%. The results of this work showed that this novel method is a quite promising technique for preparation of biomass based carbon nanofiber precursors.