Preparation of niobium pentoxide nanofibers by reactive needleless electrospinning
SHEPA I. 1, MUDRA E. 1, CAPKOVA D. 2, KOVALCIKOVA A. 1, PETRUS O. 1, KROMKA F. 1, MILKOVIC O. 1, ANTAL V. 3, BALAZ M. 4, LISNICHUK M. 1,5, MARCIN-BEHUNOVA D. 4, DUSZA J. 1
1 The Institute of Materials Research of SAS, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia; 2 Department of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice, Slovakia; 3 Institute of Experimental Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia; 4 Institute of Geotechnics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia; 5 Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Faculty of Science, P.J. Šafárik University, Košice, Slovakia
Porous polycrystalline ceramic Nb2O5 nanofibers were prepared by reactive needle-less electrospinning, resulting in composite amorphous PAN/aNb2O5 precursor fibers, followed by the calcination of the last. For the electrospinning solution preparation were used: niobium pentachloride, as the reactive ceramic precursor, polyacrylonitrile as the carrier polymer, and N,N-dimethylformamide as a solvent. The obtained precursor and final ceramic fibers both had a cotton-like 3D structure. After the calcination of precursor fibers at 600 °C, despite their fragile nature, final ceramic nanofibers still retained some flexibility. Prepared fibers were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), a combination of scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), nitrogen adsorption measurements (BET), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The potential for the application in lithium-sulfur batteries was evaluated by electrochemical tests.
Acknowledgment
This work has been supported by the research projects VEGA 2/0080/23, APVV-19-0497, APVV SK-UA-21-0074, and Seal of Excellence H2020-MSCA-IF 101030487.