Electrospinning Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of Mesoporous TiO₂Nanofibers

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) nanofibers in the anatase structure were successfully prepared via electrospinning technique followed by calcination process. The morphologies, crystal structure, surface area, and the photocatalytic activity of resulting TiO 2 nanofibers were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The results revealed that calcination temperature had greatly influenced the morphologies of TiO 2 nanofibers, but no obvious effect was noticed on the crystal structure of TiO 2 nanofibers. The photocatalytic properties of TiO 2 nanofibers were evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) in water under visible light irradiation. It was observed that TiO 2 nanofibers obtained by calcination at 500°C for 3 hours exhibited the most excellent photocatalytic activity. We present a novel and simple method to fabricate TiO 2 nanofibers with high-photocatalytic activity.