Photodegradation of phenol using composite nanofibers under visible light irradiation

[Display omitted] •Inexpensive and simple fabrication route for flexible composite nanofibers system.•Photocatalytic degradation of phenol was studied using PAN-CNT/TiO2-NH2 nanofibers.•High photodegradation efficiency was obtained compared to other reported studies.•Under solar light phenol was deg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European polymer journal 2019-04, Vol.113, p.192-196
Main Authors: Mohamed, Alaa, Nasser, Walaa S., Kamel, Bahaa M., Hashem, Tawheed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Binding sites
Composite materials
Composite nanofibers
Crosslinking
Fourier transforms
Holes (electron deficiencies)
Light irradiation
Nanofibers
Phenol degradation
Photocatalysis
Photocatalysts
Photocatalytic
Photodegradation
Photoluminescence
Radiation dosage
Raman spectra
Scanning electron microscopy
Titanium dioxide
Transmission electron microscopy
Visible light irradiation
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Summary:[Display omitted] •Inexpensive and simple fabrication route for flexible composite nanofibers system.•Photocatalytic degradation of phenol was studied using PAN-CNT/TiO2-NH2 nanofibers.•High photodegradation efficiency was obtained compared to other reported studies.•Under solar light phenol was degraded within 20 min.•The flexibility of the composite nanofibers allows use in a continuous operation mode. A novel photocatalyst PAN-CNT/TiO2-NH2 and PAN/TiO2-NH2 nanofibers have been prepared via an electrospinning technique. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectra were used to characterize the nanofibers. Photocatalytic degradation was studied by varying the catalyst dose, irradiation time, pH of the solution and phenol concentration. The activity of composite nanofibers was found to be a maximum at pH 5, 20 mg of TiO2 NPs photocatalyst and 10 mg/L phenol in water. About 99.7% and 60% of 10 mg/L phenol solution was achieved within 20 min using PAN-CNT/TiO2-NH2 and PAN/TiO2-NH2 composite nanofibers under visible light irradiation. The excellent activity is mainly attributed to the availability of more active binding sites exposed on the surface of TiO2 NPs that crosslinked on the surface of the nanofibers and to its more effective separation of electron-hole pairs.
ISSN:0014-3057
1873-1945
DOI:10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2019.01.062