Beneficial effect of multi-wall carbon nanotubes on the graphitization of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) coating

Abstract

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solutions were deposited on quartz plates by spin coating to yield 2–3 µm thick PAN films. The films were decomposed at 1000°C in N2 atmosphere into electrically conducting carbonaceous coatings. When the precursor solution contained cobalt (0.2 g Co-acetate per 1 g PAN) and/or multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs, 2 mg MWCNT per 1 g PAN) the specific electrical resistance of the product film dropped from the original 492 Ω·cm-1 value down to 46 Ω·cm-1. By excluding all other possibilities we came to the conclusion that the beneficial effect of carbon nanotubes is related to their catalytic action in the final graphitization of condensed nitrogen-containing rings into graphitic nanocrystallites.

Keywords

• PAN
• Carbon film
• Carbon nanotube
• Electrical conductivity