Photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes using composite nanofibers under UV irradiation

Abstract

Abstract In this work, photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes such as methylene blue (MB) and indigo carmine (IC) have been studied by composite nanofibers systems containing cellulose acetate (CA), multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNT) and TiO2 nanoparticles under UV light. The amino factionalized TiO2–NH2 NPs cross-linked to the CA/CNT composite nanofibers works as a semiconductor catalyst. The morphology and crystallinity were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It was also seen that many factors affected the photodegradation rate, mainly the pH of the solution and the dye concentration, temperature, etc. The study demonstrated that IC degrades at a higher rate than MB. The maximum photodegradation rate of both organic dyes was achieved at a pH 2. In comparison to other studies, this work achieved high photodegradation rate in lower time and using less power intensity.