Encapsulation of CoS nanoparticles in PAN electrospun nanofibers: Effective and reusable catalyst for ammonia borane hydrolysis and dyes photodegradation

In this study, the effective cobalt sulfide NPs were successfully encapsulated inside polyacrylonitrile (PAN) electrospun nanofibers. Typically, the solid NPs were in-situ synthesized by addition of ammonium sulfide drops to PAN/cobalt acetate solution. Electrospinning of the obtained colloid led to obtain good morphology polymeric nanofibers containing CoS NPs. Complete sheathing of the active nanoparticles did not affect their catalytic activity as the prepared mats revealed high performance toward hydrogen release from ammonia borane hydrolysis. Moreover, as a photocatalyst, a mat containing 2 wt% CoS could catalyze oxidation of methylene blue dye to be completely eliminated within 15 min. Furthermore, the introduced nanofibers photocatalytically enhanced complete degradation of the methyl red dye within relatively short time. The experimental results indicated that the optimum CoS content is 2 wt%, more increase in the concentration of the solid NPs leads to particles aggregation and consequently decrease the surface area. Beside the good activity obtained, the introduced immobilization strategy is considered an acceptable methodology to overcome the secondary pollution of the nanostructural photocatalysts because of the easy separation feasibility. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.