Abstract:

TiO2 were fabricated on electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers via the coupling of electrospinning process and hydrothermal treatment, and the resulted nanofiber mat has visible light induced photocatalystical properties. The surface of as-formed fibers containing Tetrabutyl titanate, gadolinium nitrate, PAN and polyvinylpirrolidone was smooth and the average diameter was about 320 nm. Then the as-formed fibers were transferred into Teflon-lined stainless steel autoclave for hydrothermal treatment. The surface of the resulted porous fibers (～350 nm) was uneven and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area was 17.45 m2/g. XPS and XRD results showed that PAN fiber mats loaded with anatase (Gd/N-TiO2) crystals have been produced. At last, the resulted polymer-inorganic hybrid nanofiber mats exhibited obvious photocatalytic activity to degrade rhodamine B dye under visible light.

Key words: rare earth, titanium dioxide, polyacrylonitrile fiber, electrospinning, hydrothermal reaction