Electrospinning of nanofibrous layers of As-S chalcogenide glass

Abstract

We report on electrospinning of As₃S₇ chalcogenide glass from propylamine solution. The prepared glass layers consist of nanofibers with a typical diameter of ~100 nm. The deposited layers are highly porous from the nature of the electrospinning process. The calculated effective-refractive index value of the layers is n ~1·165, at λ = 1550 nm; assuming 87 vol.% of the air and the bulk glass index n = 2·27 at the same wavelength. In contrast to the continuous 2-micron thick spin-coated layer, which had the absorption edge near 420 nm, the 10-micron thick porous nanofibrous layer had no significant absorption edge at all. The relative stiffness of electrospun glass nanofibers was found to be 98% of the value measured for the bulk glass of the same composition. So far, electrospinning is the only solution-based technique, which directly deposits solvent-free chalcogenide glass layers with no need for any post-deposition annealing.

Keywords:

• Electrospinning
• chalcogenide glasses
• inorganic nanofiber layers