Hierarchical radial structure of polyacrylonitrile precursor formed during the wet-spinning process

Electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA), micro-beam wide angle X-ray diffraction (Micro-beam WAXD), micro-Raman and nano-infrared (nano-IR) spectroscopy were performed to characterize the hierarchical radial structure within polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibre which was obtained by the wet-spinning method, including morphology, aggregation structure and molecular chain conformation. The results indicated that along the radial direction of the PAN fibre, the skin layer reflects denser morphology compared to the core region. The crystallinity, d-spacing of the (100) Miller plane and crystalline orientation in PAN fibres were gradually decreased from the skin layer to the central part, while the crystalline size shows opposite distribution tendency which was affected by the diffusion depending on the coagulation environment. As to the molecular chain structure, PAN chains tend to keep the helical conformation rather than planar zigzag conformation and packed more orderly in the skin layer of fibres.