Preparation of PVA nanofibers containing tungsten oxide nanoparticle by electrospinning and consideration of their structural properties and photocatalytic activity

Abstract

The electrospinning technique was used successfully to fabricate poly (vinylalcohol) (PVA) nanofibers containing tungsten oxide nanoparticles (NPs). The tungsten oxide NPs/PVA composite nanofibers were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Atomic force microscopy (AFM). The microstructure parameters of as–spun tungsten oxide NPs/PVA nanofibers were also presented by the Williamson-Hall method and Variance analysis. The average diameters of the electrospun PVA fibers with 10 wt% and 15 wt% tungsten oxide obtained from the SEM analysis were about 125 ± 15 and 165 ± 30 nm, respectively. The photocatalytic activities of the electrospun nanofibers were examined by photocatalytic discoloration rate of methylene blue in the presence of H2O2 and aqueous solution PH under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. It was observed that tungsten oxide NPs/PVA nanofibers exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity in decolourization of aqueous solution of methylen blue in presence of 0.1 M H2O2. Decolourization rate about 10.5 × 10−3 min−1, was obtained for the PVA nanofibers containing 15 wt% tungsten nanoparticles with H2O2 compared with the samples without catalyst.