Thermal-shrinking-induced ring-patterned boron nitride wrinkles on carbon fibers

The stabilization of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers is crucial for the preparation of high-quality carbon fibers and patterned microstructures on carbon fibers are necessary for some special applications. Here a non-oxygen-stabilization of PAN fibers was demonstrated using boron trichloride (BCl3) as the crosslinking agent, and ring-patterned boron nitride (BN) surface wrinkles were further demonstrated when the PAN fibers are stabilized under the consecutive gases of BCl3 and ammonia (NH3), due to the thermalshrinking-induced mismatched strain along the axial direction. The obtained fibers are potential candidates for the fabrication of self-cleaning clothes, water collectors, anti-icing coatings, and high performance composites. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.