Lanthanum zirconate nanofibers with high sintering-resistance

The PVP/lanthanum nitrate/zirconium oxychloride (PVP-precursor) nanofiber was prepared by electrospinning technique. Lanthanum zirconate (La2Zr2O7, LZ) in the nanofiber is formed after calcination at 800 degrees C and the nanofiber with pyrochlore structure and a diameter of 100-500 nm can be obtained by calcination of the above precursor fiber at 1000 degrees C for 12 h. The surface of the fiber is rough but the continuous microstructure is still maintained after calcination. LZ fibers stack randomly, resulting in a structure with a low contact area between the fibers. This special structure makes the fiber to have a high resistance to sintering at elevated temperatures. The BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) specific surface areas of the LZ fiber and powder calcined at different temperatures are shown in this paper, and the fiber was characterized by TG-DTA (thermal gravimetry-differential thermal analysis), XRD (X-ray diffraction), N-2 absorption-desorption porosimetry and SEM (scanning electron microscopy).