The influence of zirconia precursor/binding polymer mass ratio in the intermediate electrospun composite fibers on the phase transformation of final zirconia nanofibers

Abstract

Nanofibrous zirconia was fabricated by calcination of electrospun zirconium oxychloride/polyethylene oxide (PEO) composite fibers with different mass fraction of the components. ZrO2 nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption at 77 K, and X‐ray diffractometry (XRD). It was revealed that increase in ZrOCl2/PEO mass ratio above the threshold value significantly decreases tetragonal phase (t‐ZrO2) content and increases monoclinic phase (m‐ZrO2) content in final ceramic nanofibers. Distinct t‐ZrO2 → m‐ZrO2 transformation takes place when average ZrO2 grain size approaches to 30 nm.