Ag–TiO2 Nanofiber Membranes for Photocatalytic Degradation of Dyes

Abstract

TiO2 nanoparticles have been widely studied for photocatalytic degradation of dyes, but their small size makes catalyst recovery difficult. When compared to TiO2 nanoparticles, nanofibers are larger in size and exhibit good photocatalytic activity. Doping TiO2 with suitable modifiers like silver can further boost their performance. In the present work, TiO2 nanofibers were synthesized using hydrothermal method. The obtained TiO2 fibers were then doped with silver via photo-deposition method under ultra-violet light irradiation. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the nanofibers. Future, these nanofibers were used to synthesize a hierarchical photocatalytic membrane to enable continuous degradation and filtration. The effects of catalyst loading on permeation and dye removal were studied using rhodamine B. The silver doped TiO2 nanofiber membranes exhibited good dye removal capabilities.