Towards designing strong porous carbon fibers through gel spinning of polymer blends

Blends of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) with three different sacrificial polymers: poly (acrylic acid) (PAA), (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and (styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN), were gel spun, oriented through the drawing process, stabilized carbonized to obtain porous carbon fibers. Carbon fibers an average pore diameter 15 nm, 31 37 nm 115 have been obtained from PAN-PAA (90/10), PAN-PMMA PAN-SAN (90/10) (80/20) precursor fibers, respectively. The variation in size caused by differences compatibility between PAN polymer was evaluated experimentally blend rheology theoretically using interaction parameter values. Despite their porosity, exhibited tensile strength (?1.6 GPa) comparable that non-porous based processed under similar conditions. Specific modulus 15–40% higher than for electrical conductivity as high 74 kS/m due graphitic ordering. Porous channels presented this study combining phase separation nano/micro scale range, orientation elongation achieved spinning.