Abstract
Herein, we describe the synthesis of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles by the hydrolysis and condensation of titanium tetrachloride. The resulting nanoparticles were immobilized on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based nanofibres by an electrospinning technique in order to allow simple isolation and reuse of titania semiconductor photocatalyst. The composite nanofibres were heat treated to convert the polymer nanofibres to carbon nanofibres and to convert amorphous TiO2to crystalline TiO2. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the rutile phase was the major phase and the equatorial peaks of PAN disappeared after heat treatment at 600°C. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis confirmed that some TiO2nanoparticles were encapsulated whereas some were surface residing on the electrospun nanofibres. The TiO2nanoparticles were found to lower the cyclization temperature of PAN as indicated by differential scanning colorimetry (DSC) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Photocatalytic studies on the degradation of methyl orange dye under UV light irradiation showed that composite nanofibres were capable of degrading organic contaminants in water. The carbon nanofibres with surface residing titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2/CNF-SR) showed the highest photocatalytic activity (59.35% after 210 minutes) due to direct contact between the TiO2photocatalyst and methyl orange.
Highlights
The pollution of water by dangerous industrial organic chemicals is a serious problem as it poses a health risk to humans and the environment
If these organics are not removed, they will react with chlorine during water treatment by chlorination forming by-products such as trihalomethanes, which increase the risk of cancer [1]
The CNF/TiO2-SR showed the highest photocatalytic activity and it degraded 59.35% of methyl orange after 210 minutes followed by CNF/TiO2-EM, which degraded 25.48%, and SNF/TiO2 21.58% and PAN/TiO2 showed the least (16.44%)
Summary
The pollution of water by dangerous industrial organic chemicals is a serious problem as it poses a health risk to humans and the environment These organic contaminants need to be removed if the water is to be used in homes for human consumption. Conventional water treatment methods such as adsorption have a disadvantage of producing secondary pollutants that require disposal since it involves accumulation of pollutants on the surface. These disadvantages have prompted research interest into the development of new water treatment methods such as photocatalysis which makes use of a semiconductor photocatalyst that can oxidize organic compounds to harmless products such as water and carbon dioxide [2]. The interest in using TiO2 as a heterogeneous catalyst for wastewater and ground water remediation has increased tremendously [4, 5] because it is capable of degrading several organic and inorganic pollutants [6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
