A study on the role of electrospinning parameters on the morphology of nickel oxide nano-belts

In this study nickel oxide (NiO) nano-belts were produced by electrospinning and the influence of three parameters including flow rate, voltage and needle to target distance on the morphology and ribbon width was investigated. Ribbon's morphology and width were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Image J analyzer, respectively. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were performed to determine the thermal and structural properties. It was found that nano ribbons were desired to be formed under the selected experimental conditions. Also, as both voltage and flow rate increased, the width decreased to the minimum value of 456 nm. By increasing needle to target distance, morphology became more ribbon-like due to more solvent evaporation. According to the TGA and XRD patterns, a multi stage degradation occurred before 500 degrees C and nickel salt transformed to nickel oxide with crystallite size of 64 nm.