Influence of Electrospinning Voltage on the Diameter and Properties of 1-dimensional Zinc Oxide Nanofiber

Abstract

The electronic and other properties of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanofibers are highly dependent upon their formation technique, parameters, and solution properties. These properties would affect the applicability of formed nanoparticles to a greater extent. Hence the electrospinning parameter optimization is investigated for zinc oxide (ZnO) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) composite nanofibers. The voltage applied across the injection needle, and collector drum for electrospinning resulted in a significant impact on fiber diameter. It showed a reduction in fiber diameter to 23.31 nm with an increase in voltage from 24 to 32 kV. At the same time, further calcination leads to a decrease in fiber diameter due to the degradation of PVP under heating conditions. An extensive duration of calcination for more than 2 hr. at a temperature higher than 350 °C would lead to the formation of pure wurtzite phase (ZnO) nanofibers with smaller diameters and better homogeneity. All these variations in material properties would modify the surface properties of formed ZnO nanoparticles, in turn affecting its applicability in electronics, photovoltaic and chemical applications.