Fabrication of NiO/zirconium oxide nanofibers by electrospinning

• PVA/NiO/zirconia composite nanofibers were synthesized via electrospinning.
• Green processing of nanofibers using only water as solvent.
• Calcination of composite nanofibers to yield ceramic nanofibers.
• High aspect ratio nanofibers with diameters 106 ± 25 nm
• The application of these fibers as dental composites and bone tissue engineering

The electrospinning technique has been used to fabricate 1D inorganic–organic composite nanofibers from solutions containing poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and suitable aqueous precursors of nickel and zirconium ions. Upon calcination, nickel oxide/zirconia nanofibers retained the original morphological features of as-spun nanofibers. X-ray diffraction was used to identify the crystalline nature of the final product and analytical tools such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were employed to elucidate the pathway of ceramic phase formation and the systematic evolution of morphological features in the as-spun and calcined fibers. These fibers will find potential applications in biomedical field.