Electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber: preparation, experimental characterization, organic vapor sensing ability and theoretical simulations of binding energies

In this study, polyacrilonitrile (PAN) nanofibers obtained by electrospinning were directly coated on the surface of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and were investigated for their sensing characteristics against chloroform, dichloromethane and carbon tetrachloride as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). PAN nanofibers were characterized by SEM, DSC, Raman Spectroscopy, and FT-IR and the results indicated that beadless and regular nanofibers with the average diameter of 182.7 ± 32 nm were obtained. Kinetic measurements indicated that electrospun PAN nanofibers were sensitive to the VOCs and they were appropriate for sensing applications of chlorine compounds. The reproducibility of PAN nanofiber sensor was also shown in this study. The results revealed that the diffusion coefficients of VOCs increased with the order carbontetrachloride < dichloromethane < chloroform which was supported by the density functional theory (DFT) simulations that revealed the highest binding energy for chloroform.