Preparation of polyacrylonitrile–natural polymer composite precursors for carbon fiber using ionic liquid co solvent solutions

We report on the use of ionic liquid co-solvents in the preparation of polyacrylonitrile–natural polymer carbon fibers as low cost environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional carbon fibers precursors and processing solvents. We have characterized the structure properties of the new composites as a function of dissolving solvent using solid state NMR, DSC, FTIR and TGA. We show that the dissolving solvent plays a significant role in the properties of the new composites, we also find that the incorporation of the natural polymer additive impacts the thermal transition temperatures for the PAN