Silicon oxycarbide/titanium dioxide fibers with wrinkle-like surface by electrospinning

• They are prepared by electrospinning and pyrolysis.
• They own wrinkle-like surface and are hydrophobic.
• They consist of amorphous silicon and titanium oxycarbide units at 1000 °C.
• Oxycarbide phases separate into SiO2, TiO2 and TiC crystals at high temperature.

Silicon oxycarbide/titanium dioxide (SiOC/TiO2) fibers have been prepared from tetrabutyl titanate modified polyhydromethylsiloxane through electrospinning and pyrolysis. The SiOC/TiO2 fibers, which are hydrophobic with water contact angle of 130°, own wrinkle-like surface rising from anisotropic volume shrinkage during the pyrolysis. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy are exploited for characterization on the obtained polytitanosiloxane gel fibers and the ceramic fibers. The results indicate that the gel fibers are converted to ceramic fibers consisting of amorphous silicon and titanium oxycarbide glass by pyrolysis at 1000 °C, and further decomposed into cristobalite-SiO2, brookite-TiO2 and trace of TiC nanoparticles embedded in amorphous phase at 1300 °C.