Brief overview of electrospun polyacrylonitrile carbon nanofibers: Preparation process with applications and recent trends

The carbon fibers (CFs) are carbonaceous materials in fibrous shape with high stiffness, high tensile strength, light weight, high chemical resistance, high-temperature tolerance, and low thermal expansion. The CFs with diameters in the nanometer range are called as carbon nanofibers (CNFs), and they have shown applications in energy conversion and storage devices like supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries and solar cell, catalysis, sensors, and water purification and also in biomedical fields. In this brief note, the information about types of precursors used and the steps involved in the preparation of CNFs by electrospinning method are explained. The importance of polyacrlonitrile (PAN)-based CNFs is highlighted, and the main applications of CNFs with continued and new important trends related to the synthesis and applications of CNFs are briefly explained by referring to very recent literature.