Photodegradation of phenol using composite nanofibers under visible light irradiation

A novel photocatalyst PAN-CNT/TiO2-NH2 and PAN/TiO2-NH2 nanofibers have been prepared via an electro-spinning technique. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectra were used to characterize the nanofibers. Photocatalytic degradation was studied by varying the catalyst dose, irradiation time, pH of the solution and phenol concentration. The activity of composite nanofibers was found to be a maximum at pH 5, 20 mg of TiO2 NPs photocatalyst and 10 mg/L phenol in water. About 99.7% and 60% of 10 mg/L phenol solution was achieved within 20 min using PAN-CNT/TiO2-NH2 and PAN/TiO2-NH2 composite nanofibers under visible light irradiation. The excellent activity is mainly attributed to the availability of more active binding sites exposed on the surface of TiO2 NPs that crosslinked on the surface of the nanofibers and to its more effective separation of electron-hole pairs.