Polypyrrole-Decorated Ag-TiO₂ Nanofibers\nExhibiting Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity under Visible-Light Illumination

Abstract

In this work, a novel photocatalyst,\npolypyrrole (PPy)-decorated\nAg-TiO₂ nanofibers (PPy-Ag-TiO₂) with core–shell\nstructure, was successfully synthesized using an electrospinning technique,\nfollowed by a surfactant-directed in situ chemical polymerization\nmethod. The results show that a PPy layer was formed on the surface\nof Ag-TiO₂ nanofiber, which is beneficial for protecting\nAg nanoparticles from being oxidized. Meanwhile, the PPy-Ag-TiO₂ system exhibits remarkable light absorption in the visible\nregion and high photocurrent. Among them, the 1%-PPy-Ag-TiO₂ sample shows the highest photoactivity, which is far exceeds that\nof the single- and two-component systems. This result may be due to\nthe synergistic effect of Ag, PPy, and TiO₂ nanostructures\nin the ternary system.