UC Irvine

In this work I present a simple route for fabrication of a graphitic carbon and use that toproduce hydrogen peroxide sensors. The graphitic carbon was shown to have superior elec-trocatalytic properties when compared to its more standard fabrication routes. This wasdone by using the technique of electrospinning to create a nanofibrous mat out of the poly-mer polyacrylonitrile (PAN). The electrospinning, along with additions of carbon nanotubes(CNT) subjected the nanofibers to a force capable of unwinding the molecular chains of PAN. This unwinding was then maintained by subjecting the nanofiber mats to mechanica lstresses, prior to and during a stabilization process which helps the PAN cross-link. Finally,these mechanically treated mats were then pyrolyzed into carbon structures.

Mats were fabricated to have a graphitic nature despite being pyrolyzed at relatively low temperatures (1000°C). The mats were characterized Raman Spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). This showed in-creased graphitization compared to non-stressed mats and demonstrated interesting elechtro-chemical behavior.

n terms of electrochemical properties, the mechanical treated carbons showed an increase inthe heterogeneous electron transfer rate. This presented the opportunity to test the carbonmats as an electrochemical sensor. Hydrogen peroxide sensing was performed where it proved to be on par with other more expensive carbon based materials.