Abstract

Polyvinyl alcohol(PVA)/[La(NO3)3+Co(CH3COO)2] composite nanofibers were prepared by combination of sol-gel
method and electrospinning technique, and crystalline LaCoO3 nanofibers were fabricated by calcination of the
PVA/[La(NO3)3+Co(CH3COO)2] composite nanofibers at 600ºC for 10h. The samples were characterized by using
thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis(TG-DTA), X-ray diffraction spectrometry(XRD), scanning electron
microscopy(SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry(FTIR). The results show that
PVA/[La(NO3)3+Co(CH3COO)2] composite nanofibers are amorphous in structure, and pure phase LaCoO3 nanofibers
are trigonal in structure with space group R3m. The surface of as-prepared composite nanofibers is smooth, and the
diameter is about 200nm. The diameter of LaCoO3 nanofibers is smaller than that of the relevant composite fibers. The
surface of the LaCoO3 nanofibers becomes coarse with the increase of calcination temperatures. The diameter of
LaCoO3 nanofibers is ca. 80nm, and the length is greater than 100?m. The mass of the sample remains constant when
the temperature is above 500ºC, and the total mass loss percentage is 83%. Possible formation mechanism of LaCoO3
nanofibers is preliminarily proposed.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.