Synthesis of Highly Crystalline Single-Phase CoNb2O6 Nanofibers at Low Temperature and Their Structural Characterizations

We report the low-temperaturesynthesis of single-phaseCoNb(2)O(6) nanofibers by the electrospinning method,and comprehensive experimental and theoretical characterizations areapplied that can easily be extended to study other families of columbiteniobate. Wereport the synthesis of highly crystalline single-phase CoNb2O6 nanofibers using an electrospinning method.Columbite niobate compounds (ANb(2)O(6), A = Ca2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Ni2+, Sn2+, and Co2+) are promising ceramic materials formany potential applications such as microwave devices and photocatalystsoperating at room temperature. The fundamental characteristics includingstructural and electronic properties at room temperature, however,are not extensively studied at the moment. By combining the basiccharacterization utilizing electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and the firstprinciples approach, we reveal the fundamental correlation betweenthe lattice structure and the electronic structure of CoNb2O6. Our approach can readily be extended to studying otherfamilies of niobate ceramics made on the nanoscale for room-temperatureapplications.