TITLE:
Carbon Nanofibers Containing Ag/TiO2 Composites as a Preliminary Stage for CDI Technology
AUTHORS:
Khalil Abdelrazek Khalil, Hamoud Eltaleb, Hany S. Abdo, Salem S. Al-Deyab, H. Fouad
KEYWORDS:
Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) Nanofibers; Carbon Nanofibers; Electrospinning; Silver/TiO2 Nanoparticles
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering,
Vol.2 No.1,
January
15,
2014
ABSTRACT: Silver/titanium
dioxide composite nanoparticles imbedded in polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers
and converted into carbon nanofibers by stabilization and calcination was
obtained and tested for capacitive deionization technology. First, the silver
ions were converted to metallic silver nanoparticles, through reduction of
silver nitrate with dilute solution of PAN. Second, the TiO2 precursor (Titanium Isopropoxide) was added to the solution to form Ag/TiO2 composites imbedded in the PAN polymer solution. Last step involves
electrospinning of viscous PAN solution containing silver/TiO2 nanoparticles, thus obtaining PAN nanofibers containing silver/TiO2 nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the diameter of
the nanofibers ranged between 50 and 300 nm. Transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) showed silver/TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed on the surface of the carbon nanofibers. The obtained
fiber was fully characterized by measuring and comparing the FTIR spectra and
thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) diagrams of PAN nanofiber with and without
imbedded nanoparticles, in order to show the effect of silver/TiO2 nanoparticles on the electrospun fiber properties.