Preparation and Alkylation of Carbon Nanofibers from Polymethyl Methacrylate

Carbon nanofibers have revolutionized nanotechnology due to their potential applications in emerging frontiers of research and industrial sectors. This can be attributed to their superior properties such as higher mechanical strength, unique surface characteristics, and improved adherence that is transmitted into the polymer matrix to form a nanocomposite with improved properties. Polymethyl methacrylate is a common carbon source for the synthesis of carbon nanofibres of its high mechanical strength, thermal stability, and low moisture and water absorbing capacity that allows its products to have several applications. In this work, we report the successful electrospinning of carbon nanofibres from Poly methyl methacrylate and functionalizing the resulting carbon nanofibres. The functionalized carbon nanofibres were analyzed to determine their solubility/dispersion in selected organic solvents, then characterized using Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy combined with Energy dispersive spectroscopy and Thermalgravimetric analysis.

Influence of carbon-based cathodes on biofilm composition and electrochemical performance in soil microbial fuel cells

Increasing energy demands and environmental pollution concerns press for sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies.Soil microbial fuel cell(SMFC)technology has great potential for carbon-neutral bioenergy generation and self-powered electrochemical bioremediation.In this study,an in-depth assessment on the effect of several carbon-based cathode materials on the electrochemical performance of SMFCs is provided for the first time.An innovative carbon nanofibers electrode doped with Fe(CNFFe)is used as cathode material in membrane-less SMFCs,and the performance of the resulting device is compared with SMFCs implementing either Pt-doped carbon cloth(PtC),carbon cloth,or graphite felt(GF)as the cathode.Electrochemical analyses are integrated with microbial analyses to assess the impact on both electrogenesis and microbial composition of the anodic and cathodic biofilm.The results show that CNFFe and PtC generate very stable performances,with a peak power density(with respect to the cathode geometric area)of 25.5 and 30.4 mW m^(−2),respectively.The best electrochemical performance was obtained with GF,with a peak power density of 87.3 mW m^(−2).Taxonomic profiling of the microbial communities revealed differences between anodic and cathodic communities.The anodes were predominantly enriched with Geobacter and Pseudomonas species,while cathodic communities were dominated by hydrogen-producing and hydrogenotrophic bacteria,indicating H_(2)cycling as a possible electron transfer mechanism.The presence of nitrate-reducing bacteria,combined with the results of cyclic voltammograms,suggests microbial nitrate reduction occurred on GF cathodes.The results of this study can contribute to the development of effective SMFC design strategies for field implementation.

N-Doped Carbon Nanofibrous Film with Unique Wettability,Enhanced Supercapacitive Property,and Facile Capacity to Demulsify Surfactant Free Oil-in-water Emulsions

Electrospinning and calcination technique have been combined to fabricate N-doped carbon nanofibers(N-CNFs)by introducing amino grafted few-layered hexagonal boron nitride(amino@BN)into polyacrylonitrile(PAN)matrix as filler followed by carbonization.For the high N-doping level(10.7%,atomic fraction)with the final product,the as-prepared N-CNFs exhibit interesting surface wettability(superamphiphilicity in air and underwater oleophilicity).Moreover,compared with pristine PAN derived carbon nanofibers(marked as CNFs),N-CNFs exhibit higher graphic structure under fixed carbonizing temperature as well.Taking these advantages aforementioned,the as-prepared N-CNFs exhibit good specific capacitance(ca.200.1 F/g)without activation treatment at the current density of 0.5 A/g in three-electrode configuration,which is about 149%that of CNFs(ca.134 F/g).What’s more,our N-CNFs also display the unexpected capacity to demulsify diverse surfactant free oil-in-water emulsions by simple filtration in large scale with the high water flux ca.(23578±150)L·m^(−2)·h^(−1).