Polyacrylonitrile/polyaniline composite nanofiber webs with electrostatic discharge properties

In this study, composite nanofibers of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and polyaniline (PANI) were successfully produced by electrospinning technique and the effects of different dopants such as camphorsulfonic acid (CSA), dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) and dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid sodium salt (DBSANa⁺), and different solvents such as dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and N,N′-dimethylformamide (DMF) on the properties of PAN/PANI composite nanofiber webs have been investigated. It has been observed that nanofibers produced from DMSO generally had larger fiber diameters and higher breaking strength than nanofibers produced from DMF. CSA could dope better than DBSA(iso) and DBSANa⁺. CSA resulted in the highest conductivity when DMSO was used while it resulted in lower conductivity in DMF. The insulator PAN became a semiconductive material with the incorporation of CSA-doped PANI. The highest electrical conductivity obtained was 10^''6S/cm which is in the range suitable for electrostatic discharge applications.