Enabling high-quality carbon fiber through transforming lignin into an orientable and melt-spinnable polymer
Enabling high-quality carbon fiber through transforming lignin into an orientable and melt-spinnable polymer
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127252
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发表时间：
2021-07
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Yixin Luo;Wangda Qu;Eric W. Cochran;Xianglan Bai
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Yixin Luo;Wangda Qu;Eric W. Cochran;Xianglan Bai
与由传统石油基前体制成的碳纤维相比，木质素基碳纤维可以降低生产成本，同时实现更清洁的制造。木质素基碳纤维的使用目前受到其差的机械性能的阻碍，这主要归因于木质素结构中缺乏可取向性。在此，我们展示了一种生产高质量碳纤维的新方法，通过该方法，木质素首先转化为具有线性分子取向的新的前体聚合物，然后对前体进行熔融加工。具体地，将由具有分布分子量的多官能化合物组成的原始红橡木木质素生物油通过混合官能化随后进行受控自由基聚合转化为轻度支化的丙烯酸酯聚合物。通过仔细研究不同的合成参数并确定粗木质素生物油的固有性质对聚合的影响，可以以高产率获得可熔融纺丝的热塑性聚合物。然后使用新聚合物生产平均拉伸强度为1.70 GPa和拉伸模量为182 GPa的碳纤维。分析结果表明，新的前驱体结构可以提高碳纤维的石墨化程度，减少碳纤维的结构缺陷。结构分析表明，该碳纤维具有高度有序的乱层结构。总的来说，这项研究提出了一种有前途的方法来生产低成本，高质量的碳纤维，可能在汽车工业中有应用。
Compared to carbon fibers made from conventional petroleum-based precursors, lignin-based carbon fibers can lower the production cost while enabling cleaner manufacturing. The use of lignin-based carbon fibers is currently hindered by their poor mechanical properties that are mainly attributed to the lack of orientability in lignin structure. Herein, we demonstrated a novel method of producing high-quality carbon fiber, by which lignin is first transformed into a new precursor polymer with a linear molecular orientation, and the precursor is subsequently melt-processed. Specifically, a raw red oak lignin bio-oil consisting of multifunctional compounds with distributed molecular weights was converted into a lightly branched, acrylate polymer via a hybrid functionalization followed by controlled radical polymerization. By carefully investigating different synthesis parameters and determining the effects of the intrinsic properties of the crude lignin bio-oil have on the polymerization, a melt-spinnable thermoplastic polymer could be obtained in high yield. The new polymer was then used to produce carbon fiber with average tensile strength of 1.70 GPa and tensile modulus of 182 GPa. Our analysis results indicated that the new precursor structure can improve the degree of graphitization and reduce structural defects in the resulting carbon fiber. Structural analyses showed that the carbon fiber contains a highly ordered and well-stacked turbostratic structure. Overall, this study presents a promising approach to produce low-cost, high-quality carbon fiber that may have applications in the automobile industries.