Targeted morphology of copper oxide based electrospun nanofibers

Abstract

In this work, CuO-based nanofibers were synthesized via electrospinning. Smooth, defect-free fibers with a diameter of 261 ± 63 nm were fabricated and characterized. Thermal treatment under air at 823 K transformed the smooth nanofibers to a network of segmented, macroporous CuO nanoparticles with an average fiber diameter of 160 ± 41 nm and a crystallite size of 55.4 nm. The effects of solution properties (polymer molecular weight, polymer/metal concentration, and solvent identity) and processing conditions (voltage, tip-to-collector distance, extrusion rate, and humidity) were also investigated. Solution properties were found to strongly influence viscosity, conductivity, dielectric constant, density, and surface tension, which invariably affected fiber dimension, morphology and surface structure. Fibers as thick as 536 nm and as thin as 70 nm with cylindrical and fused structures were produced by manipulating the solution properties. Processing conditions were found to moderately affect fiber uniformity and fiber diameter.