Structural morphology and electronic conductivity of blended Nafion®-polyacrylonitrile/zirconium phosphate nanofibres

This paper aimed to study the influence of zirconium phosphate (ZrP) nanoparticles on reducing the diameter of nanofibres during electrospinning. Addition of metal oxide such as zirconium phosphate decreases the diameter and smooths on the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibres as observed by the SEM techniques. Furthermore, this work investigated the effect of zirconium phosphate on the morphology and conductivity of modified PAN nanofibres under SEM, XRD and electrochemical cells. The PAN/zirconium phosphate nanofibres were obtained with the diameter ranges between 100 and 200 nm, which mean that the nanofibres morphology significantly changed with the addition of the zirconium phosphate nanoparticles. The conductivity of PAN and PAN-Nafion zirconium phosphate nanofibres was more improved when compared to that of the plain PAN nanofibres as observed under electrochemical measurements. The plain PAN nanofibres show the total degradation on thermal gravimetric analysis results when compared to the modified PAN with zirconium phosphate nanoparticles. The thermal properties and proton conductivity make the PAN/ZrP nanofibres as promising nanofillers for fuel cell electrolytes.