Alumina nanofiber is one of the most important ceramic nanomaterials, which finds many applications in mechanics, electronics, optics, etc. Polymer-alumina as-spun composite nanofibers were electrospun from a novel solution, containing water-insoluble polyacrylonitrile(PAN), nonaqueous N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) and aluminum 2,4-pentanedionate [Al(CH3COCHCOCH3)(3)], in which the mass ratio of aluminum 2,4-pentanedionate to PAN reached up to 1:1. Upon calcining the composite fibers at 1200 degrees C, continuous alumina nanofibers with diameters ranging from 150 to 500 nm were obtained. The alumina fibers were characterized by SEM, TEM and XRD. It was found that the surfaces of the fibers were coarsen and consisted of alpha-phased single-crystalline grains with sizes of approximately 10 nm. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.