Synthesis of hierarchical TiO2 nanofiber as a high-efficient photocatalyst material

Abstract

ABSTRACT Hierarchical titanium oxide (TiO2) nanofibres have been prepared by a simple and a viable procedure. This procedure includes three steps, electrospinning, thermal annealing and hydrothermal method, and involves the use of a high-purity titanium isopropoxide (TIP), ethanol, acetic acid, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), hydrochloric acid and methylene blue dye pure. In this article, the growth of nanorods on pure nanofibers to get hierarchical structures and the effect of TIP concentration on the size and density of the produced structures in order to get high-efficient photocatalyst materials were studied. X-ray diffraction measurements show that the obtained nanofiber contains two phases of TiO2, anatase and rutile. Field emission scanning electron microscopy images revealed that the TiO2 tetragonal nanorods grow on pure nanofibers by hydrothermal reaction. The efficiency of the produced nanofibers as a photocatalyst has been studied by photoluminescence and UV-visible spectrophotometer analysis. The photocatalytic efficiency of pure and hierarchical TiO2 nanofibers was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under UV light irradiation. The results show that the efficiency ranges from 75.5% to 96% of pure and hierarchical TiO2 nanofibers prepared at 0.3 g TIP concentration, respectively, after a degradation time of 140 min.