Ytterbium oxide nanofibers: fabrication and characterization for energy applications

Metal oxide nanomaterials are widely used in many applications of renewable energy. Ytterbium oxide (Yb₂O₃) also attracts attention due to its similar structure to ZnO (~3,26 eV) and TiO₂ (~3,36 eV) in terms of bandgap energy. In this study, Yb₂O₃ 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 Yb₂O₃ 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 Yb₂O₃ nanofibers are capable of performing performance evaluations in many different energy conversion applications and others.