Needleless alternating current (AC)-electrospinning is capable of achieving high nanofiber generation rates while adding more flexibility to the process development when compared to common direct current (DC)-electrospinning. However, AC-electrospinning process may produce very different results than DC-electrospinning when using the same precursors. This study demonstrated that stable AC-electrospinning of uniform and mechanically strong polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibrous meshes can be achieved at 30 +/- 5 kV rms voltage when 0.75-6.0 wt % of nanocrystalline cellulose-II with respect to PAN is added to a typical PAN precursor solution. Efficient generation (up to 2 g/h rate or 0.7 g h(-1) cm 22 mass flux) of nanofibers with 250-500 nm fiber diameters has been observed when using flat fiber-generating electrodes with diameters up to 25 mm. Depending on the amount of nanocellulose, nanofibrous nanocellulose/PAN meshes revealed large variations in tensile modulus (90-273 MPa) and yield strength (1.02.5 MPa), whereas the fiber diameter, air permeability, air resistance, mesh porosity, and water absorption were less affected. (C) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.