Photocatalytic and mechanical properties of PVAc/SnO_2 hybrid nanofiber

PVAc/SnO2 and PVAc/SnO2/1%TiO2 particles doped hybrid nanofibers which owned flexibility and photocatalysis were prepared by electrospinning process combined with sol-gel technique.Photocatalytic degradation effect of the samples on methylene blue under UV-light was investigated.The morphologies of nanofibers,modulus of single nanofiber,mechanical properties,and photocatalytic effect of the fibrous membrane were analyzed before and after photocatalysis.The study revealed that the morphologies of nanofibers were retained well after photocatalysis,though the modulus of single nanofiber was decreased.At the same time,the breaking strength of fibrous membrane increased while breaking elongation decreased due to the changing of fiber assembly in the membrane.The photocatalytic activities of PVAc/SnO2 nanofibers improved with an increase in SnO2 content.When the mass fraction of SnO2 reached 30%,the degradation rate was up to 95%.When SnO2 content was fixed,addition of 1% TiO2 particles facilitated the improvement of the photocatalytic property of the fibrous membrane.