Preparation, structure and supercapacitance of bonded carbon nanofiber electrode materials

Interconnected carbon nanofibrous membranes were prepared by conventional electrospinning and bicomponent electrospinning to produce polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) blend nanofibers and PVP/PAN side-by-side bicomponent nanofibers, followed by a direct pyrolysis treatment. The inter-fiber connection was highly affected by the PVP/PAN ratio and electrospinning method. The carbon nanofibers prepared from the side-by-side PVP/PAN nanofibers were found to have higher electrochemical capacitance than those from the PVP/PAN blend nanofibers. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.