Synthesis and characterization of silica/ferric oxide nanofibers: Useful materials for catalysis in ethanol dehydration

Abstract

In this work, silica/ferric oxide nanofibers (SiO2/Fe2O3 NFs) have been successfully synthesized by electrospinning technique, sol-gel method and thermal treatment in combination with controlling the composite solutions in different ratio. The results show that some significant influences on the morphologies, structures and properties of the SiO2/Fe2O3 NFs exhibit a synergistic effect of SiO2 and Fe2O3. Typically, compared with the BET specific surface area of pure SiO2 NFs (2.0 m2 g−1) and pure Fe2O3 NFs (5.1 m2 g−1), a remarkably larger BET specific surface area is found to be 289.6 m2 g−1 for 32-SiO2/Fe2O3 NFs (with a ratio of 32% Fe2O3) with mesoporous structure of 3.2 nm due to the increase of active positions. It also corresponds to the NH3-TPD results of a higher amount of acid centers about 93 μmol g−1 for 32-SiO2/Fe2O3 NFs than 4.5 μmol g−1 for pure SiO2 NFs and 2.9 μmol g−1 for pure Fe2O3 NFs.