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 °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 °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), N2 absorption–desorption porosimetry and SEM (scanning electron microscopy).