Preparation of α-alumina nano/micro fibers via electrospinning.

Electrospinning is a unique technique able to prepare the fiers having diameters in the ranges from nano- to a few micrometers. In this paper, PVP/AlCl₃ organic-inorganic hybrid fibers were prepared by using sol - gel processing and electrospinning technique using polyvinyl pyrrolidone(PVP), aluminum trichlkride anhydrors (AlCl₃), ethanol and distilled water as materials. The hybrid fibers were then calcined in air at 1100 °C for 5 h to obtain alumina (Al₂O₃) fibers. The fibers were characterized by means of SEM, FT-IR and XRD, respectively, and it was found that the resulted alumina fibers have diameters in the range of 100 to 800 nm, and they are highly crystalline in α phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]