Preparation and photocatalytic activity of N-Ag co-doped TiO2/C porous ultrafine fibers mat

N-Ag co-doped TiO2/C porous ultrafine fibers mat was prepared by a sol-gel/electrospinning process using polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a precursor and Ti (OC4H9)(4), AgNO3, urea as titanium, silver, nitrogen source, respectively. The porous structure was obtained by etching SiO2 nano-particles. Structure and properties of the fibers mat were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, UV-vis, Raman spectroscopy and N-2 physical adsorption analysis. Silver ion and SiO2 nano-particles have a great influence on the crystallization of TiO2. The photocatalytic activity was measured by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. N-Ag co-doped TiO2/C fibers mat exhibited much higher photocatalytic destruction rate than P25. The photocatalytic efficiency of porous fibers mat increased by 11% after etching. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.