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Fabrication and characterization of NiTiO3 nanofibers by sol–gel assisted electrospinning

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Abstract

Continuous NiTiO3 nanofibers have been successfully synthesized by a sol–gel assisted electrospinning method followed by calcination at 600 °C in air. These nanofibers were characterized for the morphological, structural and optical properties by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and UV–visible (UV–vis) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). SEM results reveal that the obtained NiTiO3 nanofibers are 175 nm in diameter and several micrometers in length after annealing at 600 °C. The XRD analysis shows that the nanofibers possess highly crystalline structure with no impurity phase. In contrast, the NiTiO3 nanoparticles synthesized at the identical conditions by a sol–gel route have impurities including TiO2 and NiO. Moreover, the electrospun NiTiO3 nanofibers are endowed with an obvious optical absorbance in the visible range, demonstrating they have visible light photoresponse.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (2011JDGZ15), Key Technologies Research and Development Program Jiangsu Province (SBE201038213) and Suzhou Research Program of Application Foundation (SYN201004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Guorui Yang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Wei Chang & Wei Yan

  3. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Polytechnic University, Xi’an, 710048, China

    Wei Chang

  4. Suzhou Academy of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Suzhou, 215021, China

    Wei Yan

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  1. Guorui Yang
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Correspondence to Wei Yan.

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Yang, G., Chang, W. & Yan, W. Fabrication and characterization of NiTiO3 nanofibers by sol–gel assisted electrospinning. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 69, 473–479 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-013-3246-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-013-3246-8

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