Fabrication Of One-dimensional Metal Oxide Nanomaterials By Electrospinning

Zinc oxide, cerium oxide, alpha-iron oxide, zinc oxide/nickel oxide and chromium oxide/alumina nanofibers were fabricated by sol-gel process and electrospinning technique, using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA Mn=80000) and various of inorganic salts as precursor. This method offered a brand-new way for fabricating one-dimensional inorganic nanomaterial. The morphology of fibers were discussed by adjusting conditions such as the concentration of PVA, the volume of ethanol added to the sol, the mass of metal salts added to the sol, the capillary screen distance, the voltage, the velocity of calcination. As a result, with increasing the concentration of PVA, the diameter of electrospun fibers increased and the morphology changed from beads to regular and then unregular. Increasing the concentration of ethanol decreased the surface tension and increased the viscosity of solution. Increasing the concentration of inorgnic salts made the diameter of fibers increased and lead to the deliquescence of fibers. Both increasing the distance of collection and increasing the electrospinning voltage decreased the diameter of the fibers. The fibers ruptured when the temperature rose quickly, then the velocity should be controled below 50°C/h. The procucts were characterized by scanning electron microscope(SEM), infrared spectra(IR), raman shift(Raman), X-ray diffraction(XRD), thermogravimetric analysis(TGA). All the results show that five kinds of favorite nanofibers with smooth surface, homogeneous diameters of 50-150nm and uniform morphology were obtained.