In–situ synthesis of ZnFe2O4-Ce-doped/Carbon nanofiber composite viaelectrospinning approach

The purpose of this research was the in-situ synthesis of ZnFe2O4-Ce/ Carbon nanofiber composite using Polyacrylonitrile as the source of polymer via electro spinning technique. The composite was characterized by BET technique, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), as well as Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). There are many factors such as concentration of solution, flow rate, applied voltage and the distance between nozzle and collector which impact the morphology of synthesis fiber. To investigate about the concentration and its influence on the morphology of fibers, three different solution concentrations including 5, 10 and 12 weight percent of polymer were papered. Microscopic investigations revealed that the concentration of solution has a great influence on the morphology of fibers and at low concentrations, due to the low entanglement of polymer chains the fibers will not be formed and at high concentration continuous fiber with steady morphology will be formed. BET results confirmed the formation of non-porous fiber while the surface area was around 99.333m2/g. In the next step to get carbon nanofiber, stabilization and carbonization heat treatments were carried out on the products followed by evaluation of morphology of the fibers before and after these procedures. Employments of XRD and FTIR analyses proved the formation of zinc ferrite and carbon phases after heat treatment.