Formation of ZnO within flexible polymer fibers

In the process of fiber production from Zinc acetate and Polyvinylpyrrolidone using the electrospinning method, ZnO forms at temperature as low as 120 °C. The fibers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. Upon heating at 120 °C for 12 h some fibers shrink in diameter down to about 100 nm while others remain in the 400–900 nm range. Within the hybrid fibers, ZnO crystallizes in the wurtzite structure with a bang gap of 3.3 eV. The hybrid fibers exhibit the flexibility of polymer component and optical properties of ZnO phase, and promise to be very useful in various applications.