Fabrication of Inorganic Oxide Fiber Using a Cigarette Filter as a Template

Inorganic oxides with unique physical and chemical properties have attracted much attention because they can-be-applied in a wide range of fields. Herein, recycled cigarette filters are deacetylated to cellulose filters (CFs), winch fare then applied as templates to prepare fiber-like inorganic oxides (titanium dioxide, TiO2, and silicon dioxide, SiO2). Inorganic wades are prepared using CF as a template by a typical'sot gel reaction of meta alkoxides. Owing to the fibrous structure of the CF template, the' prepared inor.ganic oxides (TiO2 and SiO2) show similar fibrous structures, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption desorption analysis. Moreover, the prepared inorganic oxides (TiO2 and S02) show hi surface areas and pore volumes. Furthermore, the TiO2 fiber-like materials are evaluated for their photocatalytic properties by analyzing the methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) degradation. In this study, we provide a clean method, which can convert cellulose acetate -based waste into useful templates to prepare inorganic oxides with relatively simple steps, and the prepared inorganic oxides can be applied in water treatment.

Automated summary

By converting recycled cigarette filters into cellulose filters as templates for preparing inorganic oxides, this study demonstrates the potential to produce TiO2 and SiO2 materials with fibrous structures and high surface areas, which can be used for water treatment applications.