Preparation and Study on Nickel Oxide Reduction of Polyacrylonitrile-Based Carbon Nanofibers by Thermal Treatment

Carbon materials containing magnetic nanopowder have been attractive in technological applications such as electrochemical capacitors and electromagnetic wave shielding. In this study, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers containing nickel nanoparticles were prepared using an electrospinning method and thermal stabilization. The reduction of nickel oxide was investigated under a nitrogen atmosphere within a temperature range of 600 to 1,000 °C. Carbon nanofibers containing nickel nanoparticles were characterized by FE-SEM, EDS, XRD, TGA, and VSM. It was found that nickel nanoparticles were formed by a NiO reduction in PAN as a function of the thermal treatment. These results led to an increase in the coercivity of nanofibers and a decrease in the remanence magnetization.