Controlled Synthesis of Recyclable, Porous FMO/C@TiO2 Core-Shell Nanofibers with High Adsorption and Photocatalysis Properties for the Efficient Treatment of Dye Wastewater

One-dimensional magnetite/manganese iron oxide modified by carbon coating and with TiO2 nanoparticles into core-shell composite nanofibers (FMO/C@TiO2) with porous structure were fabricated using organometallic compounds as templates. The structure and physicochemical properties of the as-obtained composite nanofibers were characterized by a series of techniques, including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV/Vis diffuse reflectance. The results demonstrate that the one-dimensional core-shell structure was formed by coating TiO2 nanoparticles onto a substrate of FMO/C nanofibers. The porous nanostructures and photoresponse range of the composite nanofibers can be controlled by varying the proportion of both template and titanium source. The resultant composite nanofibers exhibited highly efficient removal of dye from wastewater by combining adsorption and photocatalysis processes. In addition, the composite nanofibers are superparamagnetic, and can be recovered by magnet easily with almost no decline in the removal efficiency. The facile synthesis strategy used here might provide a universal and efficient method to fabricate one-dimensional magnetic nanocomposites with porous structures for various functional applications.