High performance visible light photocatalysis of electrospun PAN/ZnO hybrid nanofibers

Abstract

ZnO nanorods (NRs) immobilized PAN nanofibers were prepared using electrospinning technique. ZnO were dispersed uniformly, which helps to overcome the difficult recycling of powder catalyst. The as-obtained fibers were characterized with wide-angle powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry (UV-vis-DRS), Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms (BET), and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS). The morphological studies revealed that ZnO NRs were aligned parallel to the axis of fibers. PAN/ZnO hybrid NFs shows better regularity and uniformity in diameter (˜800 nm) with large specific surface area and smaller energy band gap comparted to ZnO NRs. Under visible light irradiation, PAN/ZnO hybrid nanofibers have had excellent photocatalytic performances for the degradation of cationic MG dye (200 min, 99%) and anionic MO dye (280 min, 99%) respectively. Due to the electrostatic attraction between cationic dye and anionic PAN/ZnO, the degradation rate towards MG dye was higher than MO dye. Recyclability study shows that after fifth cycle, 93% efficiency was observed.