Photodegradation of organic dyes by PAN/SiO2-TiO2-NH2 nanofiber membrane under visible light

Abstract

This study proposed an effective method by using photocatalytic composite nanofiber membranes in order to degrade malachite green (MG) and acid red 27 (AR 27) to harmless products. The photocatalytic composite nanofiber membrane, Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was incorporated with catalyst SiO2 and TiO2 photocatalyst. The PAN/SiO2-TiO2-NH2 nanofiber membrane was synthesized by electrospinning technique followed by chemical crosslinking. The results of SEM, EDX, FTIR and XRD confirmed the successful preparation of nanofiber membrane. XRD analysis shows the confirmation of SiO2 and TiO2 peaks. The result shows that PAN/SiO2-TiO2-NH2 nanofiber membrane exhibit the highest degradation with a good distribution of SiO2 and TiO2 on the PAN nanofiber membrane surface. The results showed that the complete photodegradation of MG and AR 27 with artificial visible-light was achieved after 9 and 25 min, respectively. In addition, the nanofiber membrane exhibited good stability and reusability for MG and AR 27 photodegradation and has potential to be applied in industrial application.