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Control on nanostructured quaternary Ti–Al–O–B composite synthesized via electrospinning method, from nanoparticles to nanowhiskers

  • Original Paper: Nano-structured materials (particles, fibers, colloids, composites, etc.)
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Abstract

The nanostructured powder of multicomponent oxides, borides, and borates is widely used due to its high hardness, corrosion resistance, high melting point, insulating, and abrasive. In the present work, the effect of boron content on the morphology of electrospun multicomponent oxide, boride, and borate nanostructures in a quaternary Ti–Al–O–B system was investigated. Different molar ratios of B/(Ti + Al) (0.8, 1.6, and 2.4) were employed and evaluated. Imaging with the field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and the transmission electron microscope (TEM) revealed that after one hour of thermal treatment at 1100 °C, the hybrid electrospun nanofibers (NFs) in the fibrous platform transformed into nanoparticles (NPs), nano-needles, and nano-whiskers at B/(Ti + Al) molar ratios of 0.8, 1.6, and 2.4, respectively. The binding energies were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), whereas the phase study was conducted via the X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The results confirmed the formation of nanostructured ceramic powder platforms composed of multiple components, namely oxides (e.g., B-doped TiO2; Al2O3), borides (TiB, TiB2, Ti2B5, TiB12, and AlB2), and borates (TiBO3; Al18B4O33). Simultaneous thermal analysis (STA) of the Ti–Al–O–B mats indicated that the borides and borates formed consecutively at temperatures above 800 °C through reactions involving molten B2O3. We found that the obtained NPs were well arranged and sintered together throughout the fibers.

Highlights

  • Electrospinning method for fabrication of nanoparticles, nano-needles, and nano-whiskers

  • Oxides, borides, and borates in the quad system of Ti–Al–O–B were formed.

  • This study investigates comprehensively by XPS, TEM, EDS, XRD, STA, and FESEM techniques.

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  1. Department of Materials Engineering, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, P.O.B: 65178-38695, Iran

    Zohreh Ghadimi, Hamid Esfahani & Yousef Mazaheri

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All persons who meet authorship criteria are listed as authors, and all authors certify that they have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content, including participation in the concept, design, analysis, writing, or revision of the manuscript. Furthermore, each author certifies that this material or similar material has not been and will not be submitted to or published in any other publication before its appearance in the Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology. Z.G.: writing—original draft preparation, investigation. H.E.: conceptualization, writing—original draft preparation, validation, writing—review and editing, supervision. Y.M.: conceptualization, review and editing.

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Correspondence to Hamid Esfahani.

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Ghadimi, Z., Esfahani, H. & Mazaheri, Y. Control on nanostructured quaternary Ti–Al–O–B composite synthesized via electrospinning method, from nanoparticles to nanowhiskers. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 98, 127–137 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-021-05487-0

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