Influence of Solution Properties and Process Parameters on the Formation and Morphology of YSZ and NiO Ceramic Nanofibers by Electrospinning

Gerard Cadafalch Gazquez, Vera Smulders, Sjoerd A. Veldhuis, Paul Wieringa, Lorenzo Moroni, Bernard A. Boukamp, Johan E. ten Elshof*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The fabrication process of ceramic yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and nickel oxide nanofibers by electrospinning is reported. The preparation of hollow YSZ nanofibers and aligned nanofiber arrays is also demonstrated. The influence of the process parameters of the electrospinning process, the physicochemical properties of the spinning solutions, and the thermal treatment procedure on spinnability and final microstructure of the ceramic fibers was determined. The fiber diameter can be varied from hundreds of nanometers to more than a micrometer by controlling the solution properties of the electrospinning process, while the grain size and surface roughness of the resulting fibers are mainly controlled via the final thermal annealing process. Although most observed phenomena are in qualitative agreement with previous studies on the electrospinning of polymeric nanofibers, one of the main differences is the high ionic strength of ceramic precursor solutions, which may hamper the spinnability. A strategy to control the effective ionic strength of precursor solutions is also presented.

Original languageEnglish
Article number16
Number of pages15
JournalNanomaterials
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • yttria-stabilized zirconia
  • YSZ
  • nickel oxide
  • NiO
  • nanofiber
  • electrospinning
  • microstructure
  • spinning process
  • alignment
  • YTTRIA-STABILIZED ZIRCONIA
  • POLYMER-SOLUTIONS
  • ELECTROLYTIC CONDUCTIVITY
  • PRIMARY STANDARDS
  • PARTICLE-SIZE
  • KCL SOLUTIONS
  • THIN-FILMS
  • FABRICATION
  • DIAMETER
  • LIQUIDS

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