Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers reinforced with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were fabricated by electrospinning. MWCNTs were introduced into the PVA matrix through the application of an electric field. The morphology of the composite MWCNTs/PVA fibers was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Results show that the nanofibers had a diameter between 48 and 103 nm and contained a variable amount of MWCNTs. The electrical properties of MWCNTs/PVA nanofibers were investigated by fabricating impedance-type sensors. The impedance and electrical conductivity of the samples were evaluated in the range 46% and 89% relative humidity.

Nanowire/nanorod TiO2 structures of approximately 8 nm in diameter and around 1,000 nm long were synthesized by alkaline hydrothermal treatment of two different TiO2 nanopowders.

One-dimensional nanostructures have shown high photocatalytic efficiency due to their high surface area to volume ratio and charge transfer efficiency. In this work, we have studied the influence of zinc acetate content (zinc acetate to polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) mass ratio) on the photoelectrochemical performance of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures. The nanostructures of ZnO were fabricated on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrate by electrospinning of aqueous solution containing different amounts of zinc acetate. The precursor nanofibers of zinc acetate/PVA were converted into polycrystalline ZnO nanostructures with hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure by calcination at 600°C for 3 h. It was found that by increasing the amount of zinc acetate, the diameter of the as-spun precursor fibers increased and their distribution became broader. The mean diameter of the ZnO nanoparticles forming...

This work was financially supported by the University of Buenos Aires (UBACyT; TX 117 and X093), ANPCyT (Agencia nacional de Promoción de Ciencia y Tecnología) PICT 10621, the International Program for Physical Science of Uppsala University, Sweden (IPPS), the Research Institute of Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, the CONCYTEC (Peruvian Research Council), and CYTED network VIII-G.

140-FINCYT-IB-2013/Concytec-403-2012/2011-02-CONCYTEC

ZnO nanorods (NRs) films, nitrogen-doped (ZnO:N), and ZnO doped with nitrogen and decorated with silver nanostructures (ZnO:N-Ag) NRs films were vertically supported on undoped and N doped ZnO seed layers by a wet chemical method. The obtained films were characterized structurally by X-ray diffraction. Morphological and elemental analysis was performed by scanning electron microscopy, including an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy facility and their optical properties by Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy. Analysis performed in the NRs films showed that the nitrogen content in the seed layer strongly affected their structure and morphology. The mean diameter of ZnO NRs ranged from 70 to 190 nm. As the nitrogen content in the seed layer increased, the mean diameter of ZnO:N NRs increased from132 to 250 nm and the diameter dispersion decreased. This diameter increase occurs simultaneously...

This work was supported by the Fincyt Project N°140-FINCYT-IB-2013, the Peruvian-Argentinian 321-2009-CONCYTEC OAJ Project and MINCYT-CONCYTEC PE/09/01, UBACyT 20020100100636; CONICET GI-PIP 11220110101020; PICT-2012-1167. MCM, RJC and SAB are members of CONICET. Dimitry Aldakov is gratefully acknowledged for careful reading of the manuscript.