Abstract
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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 911-918 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Porous Materials |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jun 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Bipolymers
- Electrospinning
- Methylene blue
- Photocatalytic degradation
- Titanium dioxide
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Materials Science (all)
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering