The presented paper contains a brief review on the synthesis and characterization of silica aerogels and its nanocomposites with nanofibers and fibers based on a literature study over the past twenty years and my own research. Particular attention is focused on carbon fiber-based silica aerogel nanocomposites. Silica aerogel is brittle in nature, therefore, it is necessary to improve this drawb...

A low cost, durable, and efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) is essential for high-performance fuel cells. Here, we fabricated Co3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) anchored on N-doped mesoporous carbon nanofibers (Co3O4/NMCF) by electrospinning combined with the simple heat treatment. Within this composite, carbon nanofibers possess a mesoporous structure, contributed to obtain ...

A novel biosensor based on carbon nanofibers/diamine oxidase was prepared by modification of screen-printing electrodes. The enzyme diamine oxidase was immobilized onto the carbon nanofibers modified carbon screen-printed electrodes by drop and dry method followed by cross-linking reaction with glutaraldehyde. The presence of norepinephrine in analyzed samples was correlated to increasing of ca...

The carbon nanomaterails having the brittle star-like morphology (bs-CNMs) could be synthesized using C2H2-SF6 gases under thermal chemical vapour deposition (TCVD) system. The micro-sized Ni grains were used as the catalyst for bs-CNMs on the Al2O3 substrate. The bs-CNMs could be obtained under the condition of the source gases flow rates at 100sccm for C2H2 and 50sccm for SF6. The bs-CNMs wer...

We report a detailed study of surface-bound chemical vapor deposition of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers from evaporated transition metal catalysts exposed to ammonia diluted acetylene. We show that a reduction of the Fe/Co catalyst film thickness below 3 nm results into a transition from large diameter (N40 nm), bamboo-like nanofibers to small diameter (∼5 nm) multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Th...

A novel network of spindle-like carbon nanofibers was fabricated via a simplified synthesis involving electrospinning followed by preoxidation in air and postcarbonization in Ar. Not only was the as-obtained carbon network comprised of beads of spindle-like nanofibers but the cubic MnO phase and N elements were successfully anchored into the amorphous carbon matrix. When directly used as a bind...

The development of alternative anode materials out of flexible composite nanofibers has seen a growing interest. In this paper, binary carbon nanofiber electrodes of SnO2/NiO and Sn nanoparticles are produced using a scalable technique, Forcespinning (FS), and subsequent thermal treatment (carbonization). The Sn/C composite nanofibers were porous and flexible, while the SnO2/NiO composite nanof...

A novel process for the preparation of aggregate-free metal oxide nanopowders with spherical (0D) and non-spherical (1D) hollow nanostructures was introduced. Carbon nanofibers embedded with iron selenide (FeSe) nanopowders with various nanostructures are prepared via the selenization of electrospun nanofibers. Ostwald ripening occurs during the selenization process, resulting in the formation ...

Electrospinning has emerged as a very powerful method combining efficiency, versatility and low cost to elaborate scalable ordered and complex nanofibrous assemblies from a rich variety of polymers. Electrospun nanofibers have demonstrated high potential for a wide spectrum of applications, including drug delivery, tissue engineering, energy conversion and storage, or physical and chemical sens...

Carbon nanofibers/silver nanoparticles (CNFs/AgNPs) composite nanofibers were fabricated by two steps consisting of the preparation of the CNFs by electrospinning and the hydrothermal growth of the AgNPs on the CNFs. The as-prepared nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, resonant Raman s...