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Catalytically graphitized electrospun carbon nanofibers were plated with nickel using a commercial electroless bath for the first time. The nanofiber fabrication process was performed in the presence of nickel as the graphitization catalyst at a temperature of 1400 uC. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the achievement of a satisfactory degree of graphitization for the carbon nanofibers. After sensitization and activation processes, the nanofibers were submerged for 20 min in the electroless bath at a temperature of 45 uC and a pH value of 9. Results from scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction showed that a pure, crystalline and uniform nickel coating of 186 nm thickness was formed on the surface of the nanofibers.

A combination of the remarkably simple technique of electrospinning, developed to fabricate polymer nanofibers, and sol–gel processing has been utilized to produce fine zinc oxide nanofibers with an average diameter of 70 nm. A non-toxic precursor solution of polyvinyl alcohol and zinc acetate was electrospun and the resulting fibers were then calcined at a relatively low temperature to produce ZnO nanofibers. Simultaneous thermal analyses were used to study the formation of ZnO nanofibers from the precursor material. X-ray diffraction was employed to analyze the phases and different microscopy techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to study the morphology and size of the fibers. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was employed to investigate the composition of the precursor and ZnO fibers. The specific surface area of the electrospun nanofibers was determined using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method and optical properties were measured by UV-Vis and PL spectroscopy. The very high specific surface area of the ZnO fibers makes them potential candidates for nanodevice applications in gas sensing, dye-sensitized solar cells, and UV/blue emission devices.