Production and characterization of carbon black added conductive and transparent nanofibers by electrospinning technique

In this thesis, conductive and transparent nanofiber surfaces were produced by the electrospinning process. Conductive carbon black was added to non-conductive polymer solutions to obtain conductive surfaces. In order to obtain transparent surfaces, nanofiber production from carbon black doped polymer solutions was carried out on glass slides for a period of 1-10 minutes. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and polycaprolactone (PCL) were chosen as non-conductive carrier polymers due to their easy production and availability. In the first stage of the study, PAN and PCL nanofibers were produced without the addition of conductive material and optimum production parameters were determined with the optimum polymer concentration. Then, the optimum additive ratio was determined by adding carbon black to the polymer solutions and electrospinning was performed. Surface, electrical, optical and optoelectronic characterization of the nanofibers were performed after production. Surface characterization of nanofiber samples was conducted by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), electrical characterization was perofrmed by a Four Probe device and optical characterization was carried out by a UV spectrometer. It was observed that as the deposition time increased, the electrical resistance and transparency decreased. Keywords: Conductive nanofibers, electrospinning, polyacrylonitrile, polycaprolactone, carbon black