Understanding the interplay of solution and process parameters on the physico-chemical properties of ZnO nanofibers synthesized by sol-gel electrospinning

Abstract

Aging populations and the increase in chronic diseases worldwide demand efficient healthcare tools for simple, rapid, and accurate diagnosis and monitoring the human health. In this context, gas sensors are used to analyze the type of gas in the breath to diagnose chronic diseases. Metal oxide and ceramic nanofibers (NFs) produced by the electrospinning (ES) method have been investigated for potential use as gas sensors in the engineering and medical sectors. The material and process parameters are the main influencing factors on the functional performance of electrospun metal oxide NFs. Zinc oxide (ZnO) based NFs are used in various gas sensors due to the wide band gap (3.37eV), large exciton binding energy, and high mobility of charge carriers of ZnO. In this research, we made an attempt to study the effect of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and zinc acetate dihydrate (ZnAc2) concentrations and feed rate, voltage, spinneret tip-to-collector distance (TCD), and pyrolysis temperature on the physical properties of ZnO NFs. An average fiber diameter of 119 nm was obtained after pyrolysis at 600 °C of electrospun fiber produced from an aqueous PVA solution of concentration 15 w% with 7.5 w% ZnAc2 based on the weight of PVA. The grain size, transmittance, structural defects, and band gap energy of NFs were found to increase as a function of the pyrolysis temperature, which could be beneficial for the functional applications of these NFs.