WO3 nanotubes prepared by a coaxial electrospinning method.

Abstract

In this paper, WO3 nanotubes were prepared by a coaxial electrospinning method. Firstly, core-shell structured composite fibers were fabricated via coaxial electrospinning under the optimal electro-spinning parameters to get the best composite fibers with uniform diameters and smooth surface, which pure PVA being the core solution and PVA/AMT/alcohol being the shell one, respectively. Secondly, the composite fibers were calcined in air at 600 °C for 4 h to wipe out the pure PVA, leading to the formation of nanotubes. After sintering, the obtained WO3 nanotubes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The XRD show that the resultant materials consist of pure tungsten trioxide (WO3) with good crystallinity, while FESEM and HRTEM images indicate that the materials are nanotubes with rough surface and consist of nanoparticles. The inner diameter and the wall thickness of nanotubes were calculated to be around 100 and 50 nm, respectively.