Evaluation of the influence of cadmium salt addition on iodinated PVA-derived carbon nanofibers

Electrospinning of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution followed by a 24 h iodination treatment for stabilization of PVA for carbonization yields carbon nanobers. When cadmium acetate dehydrate [(CH3COO)2Cd.2H2O] salt is added to the PVA spinning solution, the carbon nanobers derived from a iodinated PVA and cadmium/PVA nanobers precursor could increase the carbon yield to 30% and 34% after carbonization which is much higher than the yield (< 1%) for untreated spinning solution. Several techniques, such as TGA, FE-SEM, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and HR-TEM, are utilized for characterization of carbon nanobers. The size of crystalline nanobers is in the range of 100-350 nm.