Synergism of fictitious forces on nickel cobaltite nanofibers: electrospinning forces revisited

Abstract

Randomly oriented nanofibers of nickel cobaltite (NCO) were fabricated using sol–gel electrospinning followed by calcination. The precursor fibers were collected on rotating disc (RDI) and rotating drum (RDR) collectors. Variable fictitious forces produce continuous deflection at each fiber landing position on the RDI collector, which subjects the nanofibers to non-bundling. On the other hand, in the case of the RDR collector, the fictitious forces act just at the surface, and these forces merely cause slip of the fibers along the rotational axis of the RDR. This slip along with the retained Columbic charges on the surface of the fibers produces fiber bundling, which affects the morphological and structural properties of the NCO nanofibers obtained by calcining the precursor fibers. The use of the RDI collector in sol–gel electrospinning is a simple and optimal method of fabricating precursor nanofibers, which yields non-agglomerated and impurity-free inorganic nanofibers.