Gas-assisted electrospinning of mixed matrix polyacrylonitrile-graphene oxide nanofiber membranes for enhanced lithium-ion battery separators

Author Identifier (ORCID)

Mohammad Mahdi A. Shirazi: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1652-2159

Abstract

A nanoporous polyacrylonitrile (PAN)–graphene oxide (GO) nanofibrous membrane was developed as a separator for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) using gas-assisted electrospinning. PAN solutions containing 12.5 wt% polymer and different GO loadings (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 wt% relative to PAN) were processed to examine the effect of GO incorporation on membrane structure and electrochemical performance. Compared with conventional electrospinning, gas-assisted electrospinning markedly reduced fiber diameter, improved structural uniformity, and increased the production rate by approximately fivefold. These changes led to highly porous membranes with porosity up to 96% and electrolyte uptake above 2000%, together with enhanced ionic transport. The gas-assisted process also enabled effective incorporation and dispersion of GO within the nanofibrous matrix, which further improved membrane wettability and electrochemical behavior. Structural and physicochemical characterization was performed using FTIR, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, TGA, SEM, and TEM, while tensile testing confirmed adequate mechanical integrity for separator application. Electrochemical evaluation by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and charge–discharge cycling showed that the combined effects of gas-assisted fiber thinning and GO incorporation increased ionic conductivity to 2.97 mS cm−1 and delivered stable cycling performance, with capacity retention of 79% after 100 cycles. These results demonstrate that gas-assisted electrospinning is an effective and scalable route for producing high-performance PAN–GO separators for LIB applications.

Keywords

Gas-assisted electrospinning, graphene oxide, lithium-ion batteries, nanofibrous separator, polyacrylonitrile

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

4-9-2026

Volume

351

Publication Title

Polymer

Publisher

Elsevier

School

School of Engineering

Comments

Noroozi, A., Bazgir, S., & Shirazi, M. M. A. (2026). Gas-assisted electrospinning of mixed matrix polyacrylonitrile-graphene oxide nanofiber membranes for enhanced lithium-ion battery separators. Polymer, 351, 129826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2026.129826

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1016/j.polymer.2026.129826