Zeolitic imidazole Framework-8 (ZIF-8) fibers by gas-phase conversion of electroblown zinc oxide and aluminum doped zinc oxide fibers

Electroblowing was used to prepare ZnO and aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO, 1-3 cation-% of Al) fibers. The as-blown fibers were calcined at 500 degrees C to obtain the target material. The average fiber diameters ranged from 240 +/- 60 nm for ZnO fibers to 330 +/- 80 nm for AZO with 3% Al. Smaller crystallite size was measured with x-ray diffraction for the Al doped fibers. Electroblowing was found out be an effective method to increase the fiber degrees productivity over electrospinning and other methods reported in literature to prepare AZO fibers as a high production rate of 0.32 g/h was achieved. The ZnO and AZO fibers could be converted to zeolitic imidazole framework-8 [ZIF-8, zinc(2-methylimidazolate)(2)] by a solvent free thermal treatment in an autoclave under 2-methylimidazole (HmIM) vapor at 150 and 200 degrees C while preserving the fibrous structure. The conversion process to ZIF-8 occurred faster at higher temperatures and on fibers with smaller crystallite size. Depending on the conversion treatment time either ZnO/ZIF-8 and AZO/ZIF-8 core/shell fibers or ZIF-8 fibers could be obtained. At best the prepared ZIF-8 fibers had a very high BET specific surface area of 1340 m(2)/g.