Enhancement in the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanofibers hybridized with g-C3N4 via electrospinning

TiO2/g-C3N4 nanofibers with diameter of 100-200 nm were prepared by electrospinning method after calcination at high temperature, using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), Melamine (C3H6N6), Ti(OC4H9)(4) as raw materials. The composite nanofibers were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, UV-vis and PL respectively. The effects of different g-C3N4 contents on structure and photocatalytic degradation of the composite nanofibers were investigated. The results indicated that with increasing g-C3N4 content, the diameter of the composite fibers increased and the morphology changed from uniform structure to a nonuniform one, containing beads. The composite nanofibers displayed the best photocatalytic degradation on RhB, when the g-C3N4 content was 0.8 wt%. The degree of degradation was up to 99% at the optimal conditions of 40 min. The degradation activity of the composite nanofibers on RhB, MB and MO was found to be higher than that of the TiO2 nanofibers. (C) 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.