The photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes in the nanotitanium dioxide-polyester based nonwoven fibers

Abstract

Nanocomposite fiber of titanium dioxide and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) were prepared by spunbond process. The effect of nanotitanium dioxide (TiO2) contents on the morphology, thermal properties, mechanical properties and photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes were also investigated. The PBT/TiO2 nanocomposite fibers were obtained from single screw extruder and then nonwoven form was produced from Hills: Lab Scale spunbond at various contents of TiO2 (1wt%, 3wt%, 5wt% and 10wt%). The results of the nonwoven from X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that TiO2 were good compatibility with PBT composite fibers. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed the formation of good compatibility of TiO2 in nonwoven. The photocatalytic characteristic of the nonwoven fibers was studied throughout self-cleaning properties by using methylene blue and methyl orange. It was found that the presence of contents of TiO2 in the PBT nonwoven showed significantly the improvement of the self-cleaning properties under UV-A radiation.