Fabrication and Characterization of LaCoO3 Nanofibers via an Electrospinning Technique

Abstract

Polyvinyl alcohol(PVA)/[La(NO 3 ) 3 +Co(CH 3 COO) 2 ] composite nanofibers were prepared by combination of sol-gel method and electrospinning technique, and crystalline LaCoO 3 nanofibers were fabricated by calcination of the PVA/[La(NO 3 ) 3 +Co(CH 3 COO) 2 ] composite nanofibers at 600ºC for 10h. The samples were characterized by using thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis(TG-DTA), X-ray diffraction spectrometry(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry(FTIR). The results show that PVA/[La(NO 3 ) 3 +Co(CH 3 COO) 2 ] composite nanofibers are amorphous in structure, and pure phase LaCoO 3 nanofibers are trigonal in structure with space group m R3 . The surface of as-prepared composite nanofibers is smooth, and the diameter is about 200nm. The diameter of LaCoO 3 nanofibers is smaller than that of the relevant composite fibers. The surface of the LaCoO 3 nanofibers becomes coarse with the increase of calcination temperatures. The diameter of LaCoO 3 nanofibers is ca. 80nm, and the length is greater than 100μm. The mass of the sample remains constant when the temperature is above 500ºC, and the total mass loss percentage is 83%. Possible formation mechanism of LaCoO 3 nanofibers is preliminarily proposed.

Electrochemical Characterization of Electrospun LaCoO₃ Perovskite Nanofibers Prepared at Different Temperature for Oxygen Reduction and Evolution in Alkaline Solution

“…[18,19] . The amount of PVP added is twice the theoretical amount of LaCoO3 perovskite while the deionized water is five times the amount of PVP.…”

“…Additional advantages of utilizing perovskites are the simplicity of preparation and its flexibility enabling it to achieve the specific properties desired for different applications, examples of these properties are conductivity and surface area. [14][15][16][17][18][19] .…”

“…LCO perovskite precursor nanofiber is prepared through electrospinning using poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) as the polymeric template [19] .…”