Nanocomposites and nanomaterials

Nanoceramic materials by needle-less electrsopinning
I. Shepa1,2, E. Mudra1, M. Vojtko1, P. Tatarko3, J. Dusza1
1 Institute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 47, 04353 Košice, Slovak Republic
E-mail: ishepa@saske.sk
2 Faciulty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling, Technical university of Košice, Letná 9, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia
3 Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 36 Bratislava 45, Slovak Republic

Number of oxide ceramic materials such as alumina, titanium, tin and zirconium dioxides and others are widely used as refractories, sensitive elements of sensors, catalysts, photocatalysts in dye-sensitized solar cells and water treatment. Due to the unique properties of nanofibers, such as high surface-area-to-volume ratio, porosity, mechanical strength, these materials in nanofibrous form show better characteristics and are used in advanced composite materials. In this study needle-less electrospinning was used for the production of oxide and non-oxide ceramic fibers from the same precursor material. The fabrication process consists of three steps: i) preparation of spinning solution; ii) electrospinning; iii) post spinning treatment. The last one is the key step for transformation of electrospun precursors to ceramic or carbon-based composite fibers. For spinning solutions preparation polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), titanium isopropoxide (TTIP), ethanol and acetic acid were used. Influence of heat treatment type, atmosphere and temperature on the chemical/phase composition and grains size of the final fibers were studied. As a result, after the calcination of the electrospun composite precursor fibers in air, the titanium oxide nano/microfibers with a gradually changing anatase to rutile phase ratio were obtained. In case of the heat treatment experiments in the argon atmosphere carbothermal reduction took place and composite carbon/oxide ceramics and titanium carbide fibers were produced. 

This work was supported by the project APVV-15-0469 and the projects VEGA 2/0163/16, VEGA 2/0099/18 and JECS Trust.