Direct deposition of micron-thick aligned ceramic TiO 2 nanofibrous film on FTOs by double-needle electrospinning using air-turbulence shielded disc collector

Abstract

One-dimensional (1D) metal oxides, typically nanowires and nanorods, have unique electronic and optical properties due to quantum phenomena that find applications in modern energy and electronic devices. We present here the electrospinning method that produces the aligned TiO 2 nanofibres directly on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates mounted rotating disc collector. The aligned TiO 2 ceramic nanofibres mat of 6m thickness is achieved in 4 h using a nonconductive enclosed-air-shield with air-hood design over the FTO mounted rotating disc collector. The aligned TiO 2 nanofibers are found to retain its integrity and binding on FTO surface even after sintering at 500C. SIMON 8 modeling package is used to determine the behaviour of the charged polymer/ TiO 2 jet when single and double needles are used for electrospinning process. The simulation study reveals that the repulsive force of the charged fibers from the double needle exerts stronger electric field distribution along the flow of stream that results in the reduction of the fibers diameter, which is about 28nm than that of using single-needle system. Copyright © 2011 T. Krishnamoorthy et al.