Excellent flexibility of high-temperature-treated SiO₂-TiO₂ hybrid fibres and their enhanced luminescence with Eu³⁺ doping

In this paper, SiO₂-TiO₂ hybrid fibres are fabricated using the electrospinning technique and Eu³⁺ is successfully doped into the fibres through a simple sol-gel approach. The obtained SiO₂-TiO₂ hybrid fibres are subjected to heat treatments at 600 °C, 800 °C and 1200 °C. The silica fibres subjected to a high temperature of 1200 °C become brittle and easily broken. Furthermore, the X-ray diffraction patterns demonstrate that crystalline titania forms in the SiO₂-TiO₂ samples treated at 1200 °C, and excellent flexibility is demonstrated in the corresponding SiO₂-TiO₂ non-woven mat. Moreover, the stress-strain curve demonstrates that the SiO₂-TiO₂ mat heat-treated at 1200 °C exhibits typical elastic-plastic behaviour. Finally, the emission intensity of Eu³⁺ of the SiO₂-TiO₂ fibres is higher than that of the analogous SiO₂ fibres. This method can be adapted to fabricate inorganic-based hybrid fibres and will pave the way for the implementation of SiO₂-TiO₂ non-woven mats in related research fields.