Electrospun Nanofibrous Polyacrylonitrile(PAN)/ Fe₂O₃Membrane as Co₂Gas Sensor

Abstract

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/Fe₂O₃ nanocomposite membranes with a thickness of 0.02 ㎜ were electrospun by adding 0 to 5 wt% of Fe₂O₃ into PAN. The surface tension, density, kinematic viscosity and dynamic viscosity of the PAN solution were determined to be 33.8±1 mN/m, 0.9794 g/㎖, 1548.6 ㎟/sec and 1516.7 cP, respectively. The average diameters of PAN fibers containing 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 wt% Fe₂O₃ particles were 300, 260, 210, 130, and 90 nm, respectively. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy results showed that the addition of Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles to the PAN mat reduced the absorption peak intensity at 2242 ㎝ -1 (C≡N bond) while it caused a sharp increase in the peak intensity at 2356 ㎝ -1 (C=O bond). Thus, it appears that an appropriate amount of Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles in the PAN backbone leads to an improvement of the performance of the CO₂ gas sensor, most likely due to the change of functional groups in the membrane.