Preparation and characterization of different loading of zinc oxide on activated carbon nanofibers

The study deals on the modified PAN-based activated carbon nanofibers (ACNFs) embedded with different amount of zinc oxides (ZnO) (0, 5, 10, and 15% relative to PAN wt.) to be used as adsorbents for natural gas adsorption. The nanofibers (NFs) were successfully fabricated via electrospinning process at optimize parameters. The resultant NFs underwent three steps of pyrolysis process which are stabilization, carbonization and activation at optimum parameters. The morphological structure and diameter of pure and modified ACNFs were characterized using SEM while the existences of chemical bonds were analyzed by FTIR analysis. XRD analysis was done to identify the crystallinity of the ACNFs. BET method was used to identify the specific surface area (SSA) and nitrogen adsorption isotherm of the samples. The results showed that the SSA of ACNF5 (163.04 m2/g) is significantly higher compared to the pristine and other modified ACNFs, nevertheless the obtained results is much lower compared to average theoretical value. SEM micrograph depicted that all ACNF samples possessed average diameter of 300-500 nm with smooth and aligned structure. The presence of white spots as ZnO alongside the NFs has been confirmed with FTIR and XRD analysis. From these findings, it is believed that ACNFs/ZnO will become a new adsorbent with great potential for gas adsorption and storage in the near future applications