Ytterbium oxide nanofibers: fabrication and characterization for energy applications

• Published in: Turkish journal of chemistry 2022-01, Vol.46 (5), p.1694-1701
• Main Author: Sarilmaz, Adem
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1300-0527; 1300-0527; 1303-6130
• DOI: 10.55730/1300-0527.3472

Metal oxide nanomaterials are widely used in many applications of renewable energy. Ytterbium oxide (Yb O ) also attracts attention due to its similar structure to ZnO (~3,26 eV) and TiO (~3,36 eV) in terms of bandgap energy. In this study, Yb O belonging to the lanthanide oxide family was produced as nanofiber forms by using the electrospinning technique, which allows for large-scale production, for the first time. The morphological, structural, optical, and phase properties of the produced nanofibers were investigated via XRD, SEM-Mapping, TEM, FTIR, UV-Vis, and XPS characterization techniques. As a result of these analyses, it was determined that the Yb O nanofibers with a diameter of 125 ± 15 nm have a cubic crystal structure and a bandgap of 3.32 eV. The results of this study have shown that the Yb O nanofibers are capable of performing performance evaluations in many different energy conversion applications and others.