Transforming Self-Agglomerated Spherical Shaped Nanostructures Into Readily Dispersable Ultrafine Nanofibers—A Model Study with Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles

摘要

Our ultimate goal is to develop a route to transform self-agglomerated spherical shape nanoparticles into readily dispersible nanofibrous structures. In the present contribution, P25, one of the most effective photocatalyst nanoparticles and a spherical nanostructure prone to self-aggregation, is a model nanostructure of interest for the morphological conversion. As a model study, routes to fabricate ultrafine nanofibrous structures from the photocatalyst nanoparticles were investigated. Since P25 are spherical shaped metal oxide particles with diameters at nanometer length scale, they carry low processability during electrospinning. Thus, to enhance spinnability, a polymer solution incorporating P25 assisted the fabrication process. Nevertheless, the physical integrity of the resulting electrospun nanofibers was strongly defied and even worse during the subsequent calcination aimed to eliminate excessive organic component and for metal oxide to fully develop. This challenge was overcome when another metal oxide precursor was introduced to the spinning solution, which, during and after calcination, could serve as an inorganic binder, holding all the constituents together.