One-pot electronspinning of polyvinylpyrrolidone/cellulose acetate/TiO₂ nanofibrous membranes with enhanced photocatalytic properties

Herein we report enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue by a novel composite material, which consists of cellulose acetate (CA), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), and TiO₂ nanofibers prepared by one-pot electrospinning. This study describes a strategy for in situ synthesis of TiO₂ nanofibers within a porous two-polymer electrospun nanofiber membrane. A hybrid composite that utilizes both the absorptive properties of CA and the photocatalytic oxidative properties of TiO₂ was created. TiO₂ nanofibers were created by electrospinning a bipolymer system consisting of PVP and CA with titanium isopropoxide (TIP) in a mixture of acetic acid, acetone and N, N-dimethylacetamide. Pores were introduced by dissolving PVP to increase surface area and enhanced access to TiO₂ and CA. Small sheets of this material were able to show substantial degradation of methylene blue (10^–5 M) in as little as one day. In four days, the porous membrane exhibited approximately 200% enhancement in its removal efficiency of methylene blue, as compared with the as-synthesized CA/PVP/TiO₂ and the PVP/TiO₂ nanofiber sheets. This study offers a robust method for synthesis of this two-polymer material with variable quantities of TIP and demonstrates the potential applicability of electrospun hybrid polymer/TiO₂ nanofiber composites as thin fibrous catalytic surfaces.