Electrospun mesoporous metal oxide fibers

Electrospinning has been used to produce mesoporous metal oxide fibers with diameters in the nanometer to submicron range. The mesoporous metal oxide fibers include TiO2, Ta2O5, TaNbO5 as well as the crystalline Nb2O5 and VTiO2. The structure directing agents Pluronic P-123 [(EO)20-(PO)70-(EO)20] and Brij 76 [C18H37(OCH2OCH2)10OH], were used to generate the mesopores in the fibers. The fibers were characterized by XRD, scanning electron microscopy and surface area analysis. In the case of TiO2 and Ta2O5 the first examples of mesoporous molecular sieve papers were generated. The papers and fibers remain intact even after heating to 900 °C.