Synthesis and optimization of barium manganate nanofibers by electrospinning

Barium manganate nanofibers were successfully synthesized for the first time after heat treatment of composite nanofibers of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), barium acetate and manganese acetate using electrospinning technique. Different PVP concentrations were used and the results show that PVP concentration had played important role in the formation, uniformity, homogeneity and particularly in the reduction of nanofibers diameter. Crystal structure, microstructure, elemental analysis and surface morphology were studied using X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction results show that at low temperature there is no crystallinity in the fibers sample and at similar to 400 degrees C formations of barium manganate crystalline phase starts and finally at 700 degrees C all the nanofibers became single phase. The first two high intensity peaks (1 0 1) and (1 1 0) give an average crystallite size of about 20 nm. The scanning electron micrographs show that the morphology of the fibers is smooth and uniform at low temperature and become slightly porous at intermediate temperature and finally at high temperature of 700 degrees C the fibers become highly porous, shrank and their average diameter reduced from similar to 400 nm to about 100 nm. These fibers are made of grains with sizes ranging from 15 to 30 nm. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infra-red results are also in good agreement with XRD and SEM results. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.