For the first time, we report the preparation of thorium dioxide with nanofibrous morphology by the electrospinning method. Two approaches were employed with different electrospun solution compositions and inorganic precursors. Thorium nitrate with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a supporting polymer was successfully electrospun from an aqueous solution resulting in green composite fibers that were calcined at 773 K to pure ThO2 nanofibers of diameter 76 ± 25 nm. Another precursor solution was based on organic solvents and thorium acetylacetonate complex with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). Green fibers were calcined at 673 K to porous nanofibers of ThO2 with an average diameter of 34 ± 18 nm and surface area of 85 m2 g-1 . The prepared materials were characterized by TGA-DSC, SEM, TEM, PXRD, and BET methods.

This research has been financially supported by the MEYS CR under the project CEITEC 2020 (LQ1601) and the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under the grant agreement no. 810626 (SINNCE). CIISB research infrastructure project LM2018127 funded by the MEYS CR is gratefully acknowledged for the financial support of the measurements at the CEITEC MU CF X-ray Diffraction and Bio-SAXS and the CF Cryo-electron Microscopy and Tomography.