Sol-Gel Synthesis of Hollow Zinc Ferrite Fibers

Hollow zinc ferrite fibers have been prepared via a facile citrate sol-gel process using Fe(OH)(HCOO)2 prepared in laboratory and Zn(CH3COO)2⋅2H2O as the original materials. The obtained hollow fibers were flexible and handlable with the outer diameter being 1–4 μm and the wall thickness less than 1 μm, and the fiber wall were made up of nanoparticles about 50 nm. Rheological behaviour of the precursor sol was tracked by Rheometer. The development of the gel fibers to zinc ferrite fibers was studied by IR, TG and XRD. Morphology observation of the fibers was given on SEM and TEM.