Metal Fe, Ni and Fe-Ni fine fibers derived from the organic gel-thermal reduction process

The organic gel-thermal reduction process was successfully used for the preparation of magnetic metal Ni, Fe, Fe-Ni fine fibers from raw materials of citric acid or lactic acid and metal salts. Ni, Fe and Fe-Ni fine fibers synthesized were featured with diameters of around 1 μm and lengths of as long as 2 m for Ni fibers, 0.5 m for iron fibers, 1 m for Fe-Ni fibers. The structure, thermal decomposition process and morphologies of the gel precursors and fibers derived from thermal reduction of these gel precursors were characterized by FTIR, XRD,TG/DSC and SEM, respectively. The gel spinnability largely depends on molecular structures of metal-carboxylate complexes formed in the gel. It is reasoned that these gels consist of linear-type structural molecules [(C6H6O7)Ni]n or [(C6H5O7)2Ni3] for the nickel citrate gel, [(C3H5O3)3Fe] for the ferric lactate gel, [(C6H5O7)5(NiFe)3] for the iron-nickel citrate gel respectively and the gels obtain showed a good spinning performance.