A Porous Structure of Nanofiber Electrospun Polyacrylonitrile-Based Materials: a Standard Contact Porosimetry Study

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The formation regularities and quantitative porosity characteristics of nanofibrous electrospun composite materials based on polyacrylonitrile and its mixtures with polyvinylpyrrolidone and commercially available Vulcan^® XC72 or Ketjenblack^® EC-600 carbon blacks were studied by standard contact porosimetry. It was shown that a significant increase in the total specific surface area could be achieved due to an increase in the temperature of oxidative warming up of mats from 250 to 330°C followed by vacuum pyrolysis at 900–1000°C. Such carbon materials, after deposition of nanocrystalline platinum onto them, can be used as gas-diffusion electrodes in an intermediate temperature hydrogen–air fuel cell on a polybenzimidazole membrane.