Preparation and magnetic properties of electrospun CuO/NiO bimetallic nanofibers via sol-gel electrospinning

We report the fabrication and magnetic properties of the CuO/NiO bimetallic composite nanofibers prepared by sol-gel electrospinning and followed by calcination. The added precursors (copper nitrate trihydrate (CuNT) and nickel chloride hexahydrate (NiCH)) significantly influenced the fiber formation and its morphologies during electrospinning. The magnetic properties were investigated by Vibrating Sample Magnetometer and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) curves. After calcination for the production of the metallic nanofibers, the fiber morphologies were dramatically changed depending on the added amounts of precursors ranging from 2.5 to 7.5 wt%. From the magnetic hysteresis loop (M-H curve) and ESR analysis of the calcined electrospun CuO/NiO bimetallic nanofibers, it was found that the magnetization of the calcined electrospun CuO/NiO bimetallic nanofibers with various weight ratio of CuNT:NiCH = 9:1, 1:1, and 1:9 at an applied magnetic field of 10 kOe was 0.480, 0.402, and 0.337 emu/g, respectively, indicating that the calcined electrospun CuO/NiO bimetallic nanofibers have magnetic properties.