Al (1 at.%)-doped ZnO (AZO) nanofibers with diameters of 257-627nm were prepared by using electrospun PVA/zinc acetate-aluminum chloride composite fibers by drying for 24h at 80 degrees C in vacuum and subsequent annealing for 2h at temperatures in the range of 400 degrees C to 600 degrees C in air. The properties of AZO fibers were characterized with an aid of XRD, DSC/TG, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, spectrofluorometer, viscometer, pycnometer and dynamic tensiometer. Uniform and smooth fibers with a diameter of 257nm were observed for the AZO fibers containing polyvinyl alcohol of 40g at a flow rate of 0.05ml/h and an electric field of 1.1 kV/cm. The FT-IR observation of the strong and broad absorption peaks of O-H bonds around 3430cm(-1) and 2361cm(-1) suggested that the interstitial H atoms were bonded with oxygen atoms for the O-H stretch modes. The peaks around similar to 1635cm(-1) may be responsible for the Zn-H bond, a zinc vacancy having two hydrogen atoms. Photoluminescence spectra at room temperature showed a narrow ultraviolet emission at 3.24eV and a broad green emission at 2.43eV. A peak broadening in the green emission may be attributed to Al doping. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.