Acrylonitrile/Vinyl Acetate Copolymer Nanofibers with Different Vinylacetate Content

In this study, free radical copolymerization of acrylonitrile (AN)vinyl acetate (VAc) was performed for five different feed ratio of VAc (wt %) by using ammonium persulfate (APS) in the aqueous medium. The effect of VAc content on the spectrophotometric and thermal properties of ANVAc copolymers was investigated by Fourier Transform InfraredAttenuated Total Reflectance spectrophotometer (FTIRATR), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), and thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA). Thermal stability of homopolymer of AN is improved after being copolymerized. The electrospun P(AN-co-VAc) nanofibers were fabricated and the effect of VAc content on the morphologic properties of nanofibers was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The viscosity of the solution had a significant effect on P(AN-co-VAc) electrospinning and the nanofiber morphology. The average diameters of P(AN-co-VAc) nanofibers decreased 3.4 times with increasing feed ratio of VAc wt %. The P(AN-co-VAc) electrospun nanofiber mats, with the feed ratio of 30 wt % VAc, can be used as a nanofiber membrane in filtration and as a carbon nanofiber precursor for energy storage applications due to high surface to volume ratio, high thermal stability, homogeneous, and thinner nanofiber distribution. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013