Title of the paper: Fabrication of highly porous conducting PANI-C composite fiber mats via electrospinning

Authors: K. Sujith, A.M. Asha, P. Anjali, N. Sivakumar, K.R.V. Subramanian, V. Nair Shantikumar, A. Balakrishnan

University / Institute: Amrita Centre for Nanosciences, Kochi, India.

Abstract: Highly porous (~ 70%) polyaniline-carbon black composite nanofiber mats with good conductivity were fabricated via electrospinning. The fiber mat was electrospun using polyvinyl alcohol as carrier solution which was later decomposed at ~ 230 °C to get a complete conducting nanofiber network. This heat treatment reduced the fiber diameter from ~ 250 nm to ~ 170 nm and the porosity of the fiber mat increased from ~ 41% to 70%. The removal of the carrier phase was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and did not result into any structural collapse. The localized conductance measurements using scanning electro-chemical microscopy showed that the removal of insulating carrier solution substantially reduced the percolation threshold and increased the fiber-mat conductance.

Links to the paper (link to the journal webpage):  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167577X1101113X