Method for production of polymer and carbon nanofibers from water-soluble polymers

Nanometer scale carbon fibers (carbon nanofibers) are of great interest to scientists and engineers in fields such as materials science, composite production, and energy storage due to their unique chemical, physical, and mechanical properties. Precursors currently used for production of carbon nanofibers are primarily from nonrenewable resources. Lignin is a renewable natural polymer existing in all high-level plants that is a byproduct of the papermaking process and a potential feedstock for carbon nanofiber production. The work presented here demonstrates a process involving the rapid freezing of an aqueous lignin solution, followed by sublimation of the resultant ice, to form a uniform network comprised of individual interconnected lignin nanofibers. Carbonization of the lignin nanofibers yields a similarly structured carbon nanofiber network. The methodology is not specific to lignin; nanofibers of other water-soluble polymers have been successfully produced. This nanoscale fibrous morphology has not been observed in traditional cryogel processes, due to the relatively slower freezing rates employed compared to those achieved in this study.