Manufacturing and Characterization of Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers

Carbon is a chemical element having atomic number 6 and specified by using letter “C”.it has high chemical bonding flexibility. Because of this property it can form number of stable organic and inorganic molecules. It is common element of all known life because of its ability to form polymer at different temperatures. Carbon atoms having atomic bonding forms number of allotropes which have different properties. The well known allotropes are Graphite and Diamond. Because of having various properties like thermal, electrical, electromagnetic shielding and mechanical properties it shows the versatility of carbon nanofibers (CNFs). A carbon nanofiber is very small in size and exists at nanometer scale having atom in between 0.1 to 0.5 nm. There is difference between the Conventional carbon fiber and carbon nanofiber. Generally, conventional carbon fiber having diameter in the range of 5-10 micrometer whereas the carbon nanofiber having diameter about 50-200 nm. These carbon nanofibers are examined under the specialized microscopes such as STM (scanning tunneling microscope), AFM (atomic force microscope), TEM (transmission electron microscope), and SEM (scanning electron microscope). This paper presents the entire experimental work and manufacturing of carbon nanofiber using electrospinning process. Carbon nanofibers obtained by electrospinning process were characetrised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).