Synthesis and Optical Properties of Co-Doped ZnO Submicrometer Tubes from Electrospun Fiber Templates

Abstract

Submicrometer ZnO tubes have been synthesized by a polymer based template approach using sol-gel deposition. Zinc acetate, a precursor to ZnO, was deposited on catalytically active electrospun polycarbonate fibers approximately 250+/-100 nm in diameter. Thermal degradation of the core fibers resulted in the oxidation of zinc acetate to produce ZnO nanotubes with diameters of approximately 500+/-100 nm and an average wall thickness of approximately 100+/-50 nm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and UV-visible spectroscopy were used to characterize the composition, structure, and morphology of the tubes. Powder X-ray diffraction results showed that a wurtzite crystalline phase was obtained. The UV-visible absorption spectrum was red-shifted by 25 nm due to narrowing of the ZnO band gap (approximately 3.22 eV) as a result of Co doping. Similarly, green band emission was not observed in the emission spectrum, while emission lifetime was determined to be 620 ps from photoluminescence studies.

A facile synthesis of nanocrystalline CoFe2O4 embedded one-dimensional ZnO hetero-structure and its use in photocatalysis

“…The splitting of the characteristic peak is attributed to the increase of stretching polarity of the Zn O band [28]. A third intense peak at 900 cm −1 in the CoFe 2 O 4 -ZnO sample corresponding to the optical mode due to electronic transitions in ZnO [29]. A broad peak centred at 3400 cm −1 was observed in the spectra of ZnO and CoFe 2 O 4 -ZnO nanostructure which is due to O H stretching band.…”

Structural, optical, and magnetic properties of Co-doped ZnO nanorods fabricated by a facile solution route

“…For instance, Jones and coworkers [11] fabricated Co:ZnO submicrometer tubes using a polymer based template approach.…”

Controlled‐release drug carriers based hierarchical silica microtubes templated from cellulose acetate nanofibers

“…[18][19][20][21] For example, an amphiphilic block copolymer 22 and a mixture of aqueous ammonia and tartaric acid 23 were used for softtemplating hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles with tunable shell thickness and pore size and phosphorylated silica nano-tubes with high length-to-diameter ratios, respectively. 32 ZnO hollow nanofibers were templated from electrospun fibers of PAN and polyvinylpyrrolidone, 33 polycarbonate, 34 polyvinyl-acetate, 35 and PAN. 10 Electrospinning is a simple and efficient process to produce nanofibers, 21,[24][25][26][27][28] which can be used directly or acted as templates for creating new functional nanoproducts or manipulating molecular self-assembly.…”