Filtration-enhanced highly efficient photocatalytic degradation with a novel electrospun rGO@TiO2 nanofibrous membrane: Implication for improving photocatalytic efficiency

Novel membranes with advanced oxidation functions are urgently required for degradation of organic micropollutants. This study proposed a novel electrospun rGO@TiO2 nanofibrous (rGO@TiF) membrane fabricated with a successive electrospinning-calcination method. The optimized rGO-2@TiF_450 membrane achieved 100% removal of propranolol within 60 min. Systematic degradation experiments in different operational modes were conducted to reveal the enhancing mechanism of filtration on photocatalysis. The resulted degradation efficiency with filtration is up to 2.15 times as much as that without filtration. This filtration-induced improvement could be probably attributed to the enhanced mass transfer of the reactants and inhibited electron-hole recombination that resulted in more practically active oxidative radicals. The proportion of the improved degradation in membrane interior due to filtration was determined to be similar to 35%. Additionally, the degradation performance of the rGO@TiF membrane is highly stable over 10 degradation cycles and the removal rate was 2-10 times higher than other studies.