Synthesis and characterization of boron-doped bismuth oxide-erbium oxide fiber derived nanocomposite precursor

Abstract

In this study, boron doped and undoped Bi2O3-Er2O3 nanocomposite fibers were produced via electrospinning technique. Obtained fibers were turned into ceramics via calcination process. Obtained nanocomposite fibers and ceramics were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, x-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy techniques. X-ray diffraction results show that boron undoped Bi2O3-Er2O3 ceramic consisted of face-centered cubic Bi2O3-Er2O3 phase. However, boron doped Bi2O3-Er2O3 ceramic consisted of orthorhombic phase. Crystallite sizes of the ceramics were evaluated using Scherrer’s equation. Crystallite sizes of boron doped and undoped ceramics were calculated as 50 and 17 nm, respectively. The average fiber diameters for boron doped and undoped poly vinyl alcohol/Bi-Er acetate nanofibers were calculated as 79 nm and 96 nm, respectively. The Brunauer Emmett teller results show that boron undoped and doped Bi2O3-Er2O3 nanocrystalline powder ceramic structures sintered at 800℃ have surface area of 20.44 and 12.93 m2/g, respectively.