Flexible CeO2 nanofiber membranes prepared by precursor-designed electrospinning

Precursors with good spinnability and stability are essential for the preparation of high-quality metal oxide nanofibers by electrospinning. In this work, guided by the concept of molecular precursor design, a cerium-based polymeric precursor, polyacetylacetonatocerium (PAC), was successfully developed by optimizing the ligand source, showing improved spinnability and stability compared with the acetate-derived precursor system (polyacetatocerium, PEC). By combining electrospinning with subsequent calcination, self-supporting CeO 2 nanofiber membranes were successfully fabricated. The PAC-derived precursor exhibited a higher ceramic residue yield and better morphology retention during calcination, and the resulting membranes showed better structural integrity. Among the obtained samples, the nanofiber membranes calcined at 600 °C (A6) showed the best overall mechanical performance, with a tensile strength of 0.78 MPa, together with good bending and folding tolerance. The CeO 2 nanofiber membranes also exhibited high near-infrared reflectance. In a 300 s butane-torch test, a 30 mm-thick stacked CeO 2 nanofiber membranes maintained a cold surface temperature of about 112 °C, while the hot surface response temperature was about 1308 °C, indicating its potential for thermal protection. These results demonstrate the feasibility of preparing CeO 2 nanofiber membranes via precursor-designed electrospinning and suggest their potential in thermal-protection-related applications.